X-Com 2: Flight
by Kalenath Shok-Tan
Summary: X-Com has always been a diverse organization. It has been in existence for a long time and there are secrets within secrets hidden from everyone. I started writing this back in 1999 but it fizzled. Here we go again. There will be spoilers from lots of old X-Com games as well as the newer ones and references to my works. This is a fanfiction, I own no rights to any X-Com title.
1. Chapter 1

**W****inning?**

This was wrong. Everything was wrong.

The S-2 Firestar class interceptor flew on as easily as it ever had. Its fusion power supply was good for incredibly long flights even at hyperlight velocities. Its weapons and armor were cooling from the horrific beating that it had taken in the battle, but that was _nothing_ compared to the beating that the pilot's psyche had taken.

"They cannot all be gone." Lieutenant Commander Samuel Rogers, call-sign 'Buck' was rarely shaken. He had earned his call-sign in battle with hordes of unrelenting foes, always pushing on and accomplishing the mission no matter the odds. "Sure, the others were too close to the enemy base, they were caught in the blast, but the MacArthur was well outside that and their drives were _intact!_ They _cannot_ be _gone!_"

His force had come into this battle with four other small fighter ships and one bomber class ship all carried into an alternate dimension by a capital class starship. Now? His sensors did not lie. There was nothing anywhere close to him. He was in interstellar space. He shook his head and started his nav system on finding out where he was. That might take a while. He was no astronomer except as it was required by his duty but he did know about interstellar distances and how much space was actually out there in outer space. Lots.

The battle had not gone well. Everyone had known the risks. Or so they had thought. They had the weapon to do the job and had deployed every available ship to cover said weapon while it was sent on its way. It had been a suicide mission from the get-go and everyone had known that. Every one of the crews accepted that. After so long fighting a losing war it had been so incredible to finally have a chance to win! To strike back at the enemies who came form nowhere and vanished just as quickly after wreaking such havoc. For decades, alien forces had struck and vanished, leaving X-Com to clean up the messes they had left all across the Frontier. Rogers had been one of many orphaned by the horrible assaults and for many? Hope had fled entirely.

Then, like a bolt from the blue, hope had come _back_.

A new Commander had taken the reins and galvanized the dispirited and disorganized X-Com space forces back into a powerful fighting force. New pilots, new training, new weapons and technology had all allowed the once almost useless fliers a new chance. Fliers who had gone out to fight even without any chance at all of winning and often come back limping. If they had come back at _all_. Rogers had been recruited due to his psy ability, something he had cursed many times in his life, but had then found a use for. The unknown was always the worst. How could one fight the unknowable? Once then enemy were known, the battle became a lot less lopsided. Still dangerous, to be sure, but always…

His sensors pinged and he stiffened. Another craft showed on his screen. Not a human one! He didn't need the battle computer's warning klaxon to know what he faced. As soon as he saw it, he felt the tickle across his mind that heralded the most powerful of the alien enemies. Ethereals were not even _close_ to the most physically powerful of the enemies that humanity had faced during the long wars that X-Com had fought. They didn't _need_ to be. Mutons, Sectoids and all of the other alien forms that the premier human defense organization had fought were dangerous, no question, but the Ethereals who led them, who acted as battlefield commanders, were an order of magnitude _worse_. A Muton could kill you. _Would_ kill you if given the chance. An _Ethereal_ would warp your mind, turn you against your comrades. You wouldn't see anything at all wrong with turning your weapons against comrades you had fought beside and bled beside for years. No one would ever know how many X-Com personnel had been lost to such. So many teams had simply vanished in the maelstrom of the never ending war, almost certainly many of them to such fates. Rogers knew of three instances where a trusted wingman had shot his or her wingleader after being hit by bolts from the psionic aliens. He had blown one of those out of space himself. He had known that girl, had feelings for that girl and she had nearly killed him. She hadn't and then he had taken vengeance for his wing leader. Then he had found the Ethereal who had taken control of his wingmate and killed _it_.

That was why he had been recruited. Why he had been trained. Why he had worked so hard to perfect his abilities. He did not bother to respond as his communication system lit up. The enemy did love to taunt. Instead, he shunted power from his shields to his weapons. In any other situation, such would be utter madness. No human manufacture could possibly hope to repel energy fire of the magnitude that the aliens threw. But Ethereals did not use plasma cannon. He smiled grimly as space lit up in ways that only a psionic person would see. The bolts hit his ship, passed through his shields and armor as if they did not even exist, hit his brain and did _nothing. _His mind was his fortress and he had trained to defend it. The bolts barely made his mind shields flicker. He felt the sudden knowledge, the consternation, the sudden fear from the other as it realized _wh__at_ it had attacked. He _savored_ it. He dearly loved when he felt their fear.

"Nice try, you alien scum." Rogers snapped as he activated his own weapons. The four tracking tracer cannon flared, beams of white light following the now fleeing alien craft as it tried to evade his fire. Futile. Even the insanely fast and agile small saucers that the aliens preferred could not outrun speed of light weaponry. "_Die!_"

The enhanced beams tore through the alien craft like a hot knife through butter. Its shields flared for a moment and then failed even as it evaded harder, breaking the beams' lock for a moment. Only for a moment and Rogers had not been idle. His eyes were hard under his space suit's visor as a chime sounded and a flick of a finger sent a missile arrowing towards the doomed alien. It's shields came back up but Rogers' guns had a lock again and fired, the white beams tracking the saucer's evasive action. A green flash heralded the shields failing just in time for the missile to hit the dark metal hull. Rogers' smile was a cold thing as a scream sounded across his mind. A scream that cut out as the beams that continued to flay the doomed alien ship found the reactor and turned it and the luckless Ethereal commanding it into a miniature sun.

"That is four." Rogers said into the sudden silence in his mind. "One more Ethereal and I am an ace."

He didn't bother counting any other enemy craft. He never had. Only Ethereals. Only the kind of alien that had come with no warning and turned his colony into a slaughterhouse. It hadn't had to raise a weapon, it had turned everyone against each other, then it had left. His mind shied away from the memories. He hadn't had any idea why or how he had survived, but then X-Com had come, found him alone among the ruins and taken him to a new life. To vengeance.

Rogers' hands moved in trained patterns as he sat back in his seat, recovering from the expenditure of energy. Defending was always easier than attacking. No matter his desires, he could not use his abilities as the Ethereals could so easily at range. He burned to strike them down, fry their minds as soon as he saw them or felt their tendrils encroach on his mind. It was what he lived to do. But he was only human and had limits. He would recover his expended energy quickly. He always recovered and he would fight. He was X-Com after all.

But now? He was alone.

The pilot reverted to his training. He reset his shields. A quick check showed all of his energy weapons still functional. He only had two missiles left however and in most situations, he would be looking to return to base by now. The supra-light drive that X-Com used would allow him to transit even interstellar distances quickly, but it needed a frame of reference to find its destination. The nav computer was still trying without success to find out where he was. If he tried to jump without information, he would probably wind up even more lost. Hyperspace was yet another reality that was barely accessible from this one, a _tiny_ reality, so he was highly unlikely to hit anything while in that, but accelerating or decelerating from the speed required was another story. He had seen both X-Com and alien craft destroyed when they hit things going that fast. Shields and armor were irrelevant when you started talking about decent fractions of the speed of light. Inertia was as much a pain in the ass as gravity could be.

To pass the time, he replayed the battle in his head. The task force had jumped in, taking the enemy by surprise. That was the only explanation for only seeing a dozen enemy ships arrayed around the base. It had been exactly where the eggheads had said it would be. No one had ever been able to find an alien base larger than a mid-size staging area in human space because there hadn't _been_ one. They were not based in Rogers' reality. They had their assault forces coming from another dimension. Getting there had been a royal pain in the butt, but for once, the battle had almost entirely gone X-Com's way.

The MacArthur, by plan, had remained far enough from the battle to stay intact while the fighters had swarmed. Her modified drive systems were the only way to get in and out of the aliens' reality, and she had been their only way home. Only a few alien ships had managed to get past the X-Com screen and strafe the capital ship. Those few had fallen prey to upgraded defenses. Ordinarily, alien ships simply danced around human design weaponry. The few weapons that could hit them rarely did any damage, but X-Com had always worked hard to find ways to adapt, to overcome. The bits and pieces they recovered from battle zones had always been analyzed to a fair-thee-well.

Rogers had no need to know much of the history of humanity out among the stars, but he did know that humanity had left Earth in response to an assault by extraterrestrials. The X-Com Council had decided that having all of their eggs in one basket was bad idea. Rogers knew what as egg was, even though he had never seen a chicken except in pictures. It simply made _sense_ not to have all of humanity in the same place. The problem was, when humanity spread out? The aliens attacking them had followed. For a time, it had seemed that humanity had a chance to grow out here in the Deep Black, but then the enemy had returned and all hell had broken loose. Rogers was no historian, but he _did_ know his enemy. They always came back. It was always at least a tactical surprise when they did and always, humanity played catch up.

This time, however? The _aliens_ had been the ones taken by surprise and seven alien ships had died in the first few moments of the fight. X-Com's missiles had gotten a lot better. That left five alien ships versus three fighters and a bomber. Even odds for the first time in a long, long time. Especially since the alien base hadn't seemed to have any weapons! That had made no sense at all, except that it was huge. It was drawing energy from a star! The X-Com ship probably could have shot heir weapons at it for a month without causing serious harm. Movies aside, most who built such huge structures didn't build them with vulnerabilities. No Trench Runs would be possible for such a base.

Not that X-Com _needed_ to.

Two of the aliens had gone for the MacArthur and only three had engaged the X-Com fighters. It had quickly become a furball, alien and human ships firing and dodging across spaces that would have been continental back on Earth. Two of Rogers' wingmen had perished, but so had two of the aliens. Their sensors had lit up with enemy reinforcements, but then Commander Deering's 'Lucky Strike' had been in range. She had fired her payload and turned to run like hell.

Just like that, the battle had ended. The remaining two enemy fighters who were close had torn after the Nova Bomb missile that the Commander had launched, utterly ignoring the human ships but they were far out of range. The Commander's normally plodding Avenger II bomber was torn up to be even even slower and the other fighter was a mess as well. Rogers' ship had been whole and he had ignored a direct order from the Commander to leave her and the other, to flee. He would be put on report for insubordination.

He hoped so anyway.

Deering hadn't made it. He had seen her ship caught up in the wave front for the nova they had caused. Nothing human made would be able to withstand such. The other damaged ship, Captain Kerasimov's Lightning II, had simply disappeared from his scopes. Battle damage? Caught by debris or aliens coming just a bit too slow to stop the Nova Bomb? Impossible to say. Rogers had been pushing his Firestar's engines to the max, trying to make it to the MacArthur whose drives had been powering up when he had sudden been elsewhere.

Here. Wherever _here_ was.

A 'ping' came from his nav system and he heaved a sigh of relief as it started to scroll data. But what he saw made him stiffen. It made _no sense_.

"_Earth?_" The pilot asked nobody as he stared at the very familiar solar system on his screen.

Four planets inside an asteroid belt, five outside. Four gas giants. All completely familiar from his earliest teachings. All impossible. From the readings, he was just inside the orbit of Pluto, not that the wildly erratic orbit made any sense to any but astronomers. Of course he knew what Earth was, every X-Com troop did. But they had gone too far to go back. The nav data to get the humans where they had gone had been one way and erased itself when they had arrived to keep any other hostiles from being able to track them back to humanity's birthplace. They _couldn't_ go back. But he _had._

"Oh, shit."

For a moment, the pilot just sat there, stunned out of his mind. Then his brain kicked off again. X-Com had procedures for everything. They had to have something about this. _Anything! _All he really remembered about Earth was that most of humanity hadn't had a clue what had happened. It had all been a secret war. Hidden in the shadows. There had been some data that the fleet had received while in transit that said that humanity had been attacked again, from under the seas. He started a computer search for what to do. He had no idea what to do. If Earth was under attack…

Rogers went still as his sensors went nuts. ECM and radar were both reporting unknown craft approaching. But… They were not alien types the computer knew. Two ships were approaching slowly. Slowly by space speed scales anyway. They were clearly cautious. Then one came into his visual range and Rogers stiffened anew. That was _not_ a human design! It was far too angular and silver! He snarled as he activated his weapons. He aimed at the one he could see and-

_They were gone!_

"What the fuck?" Rogers wasn't a very profane man normally, but this situation had thrown him for a loop. He checked his radar, but nothing showed. He spun his ship on its axis, checking his 'six' in ancient human fighter pilot parlance and nothing. They had been there! Now they were not!

"Okay. Great. New aliens." Rogers said very softly as his systems chimed for attention. He smiled a bit grimly as he saw a list appear! X-Com _had_ planned for this! He had to assume he was under observation, so he plotted a jump to the closest star to Earth. Then he would jump back and see how much damage he could cause. It was what he did. He would have to make contact, but carefully. He smiled as he saw that X-Com had even planned for that. Doing so would not be easy, but he would manage. He was X-Com. He would kill any alien he saw and Earth _would_ be free.

* * *

Very close by in cosmic terms

Both of the non human pilots stared as the clearly human design warship accelerated and then vanished into a form of recognizable supra light travel. Hyperspace. The pilot obviously could not detect their cloaked ships and that was a good thing. Both Sectoids looked at one another on their screens and as one, both winced. They knew the insignia but… The mind they had both sensed added to the _very_ short fight they had detected said volumes. None of what that data said was good.

_The Lady will not be pleased._ Came from one, the one who had gotten closest to the human craft.

_No one will be._ The other Sectoid replied as the pair shifted course back towards their assigned patrol pattern. _We need to report this. Let X-Com deal with it._

Can_ they? _Came from the other. _That ship is capable of interstellar flight. It is nothing humans in this system made and from what we scanned, its weapons are a match for anything the Elders made. If that pilot is as hostile as he seems, no one in this system will be safe. No one._

_You know he will be hostile. _ Came from the first. _He was going to shoot. We did not even have a chance to hail him. The Lady will not be happy._

_A ship that can fly anywhere, has weaponry better than ours and a pilot who has no reason to trust _anyone_ here? _No one_ will be happy. Not even X-Com._


	2. Chapter 2

**Fatigue**

(At just about the same time)

She was tired all the time now. It was only to get worse, but she gamely struggled to continue as she had. It was all she could do. She had time, but she knew that time was shorter now than it had been when she had sat down.

"Milodi?" Her superior's voice had the priestess look up from the score she had been transcribing carefully to see the elder hybrid watching her from the doorway. The musical hybrid smiled but finished her work and carefully saved it before she turned her chair to face the elder sister. Amadri's face was professionally blank, but her mind was wide open to the younger being and Milodi knew how much this hurt her. Going through it again.

"I am still here, Sister Amadri." Milodi said quietly. "I was just transcribing some of what I wrote. I hope it lasts."

"Renas has not given up hope." Amadri didn't mean to snap that, that was clear both from her face and her mental touch. "Neither should you."

"She cannot find a cause for the deterioration of my cells, Amadri." Milodi said as she turned back to the desk. "If she cannot find a cause, she cannot heal it. At least, whatever infected me only affected _me._" Just the thought of a disease that targeted hybrids scared anyone and everyone, especially since diseases often mutated. Anything with human or Elder DNA might be at risk. Whatever had happened, it wasn't infectious or Milodi likely would have shot herself on finding out. On waking this morning to find out that she would likely not live out the _day_. Even if she did? No more than a week.

"I don't want to lose you too!" Amadri's brave face collapsed as she stalked to the desk and took Milodi's hands in her own, pulling the other to look at her. Grief shone through before she controlled herself. "You are needed now more than ever! You are the only one everyone trusts."

"You know better than that." For just a moment, Milodi felt far, far older than even the ancient hybrid in front of her. Amadri had been born of the first generation of Advent clones created with human DNA. As far as anyone could tell, she was the last of those. "The Nest do not trust anyone, let alone any who served the Elders. X-Com? Likewise."

"Please don't give up, Milodi." Amadri begged as she fought to keep from crying. "Yes, the Lady does talk to others now, but you are who you are. You are special. Dear to me. I _cannot_ lose you like we lost Hiloria!" Naked fear sang in her mind as she started to cry.

"You are not alone, sister Amadri." Milodi said sadly. "There are many others who will follow our faith even of you have barred Kriso from ever returning." That had hurt. Both being betrayed by him and the punishment that Amadri had finally agreed on. She might not be violent, but she _was_ angry and she had cause. Exile would not be fun, but it was fair. None of them would ever trust him again. "You know the Lady will not forsake you if she is given any choice in the matter at all."

"She can't do anything for you?" Amadri begged.

"No. I asked. Renas consulted with Doctor Cooper." Milodi said quietly. "They are both stumped. It isn't anything natural or anything we have records for. Part of me is almost hoping it is an X-Com thing, but I haven't heard back from them. Jane was rather upset." Jane had come for her usual visit and on hearing what had happened? Left in a hurry. Knowing what the priests did of Colonel Jane Kelly of X-Com? No one had dared inquire.

"I don't blame her." Amadri said as she knelt down to hug Milodi. "I… I cannot give up. Not now! Not when we have a chance at peace here! You are needed."

The few hybrid priests who survived the Elder's fall had worked tirelessly to help the beings who looked to them for guidance. They were very limited in what they could do, but in those limits, they did miracles. Amadri and Renas worked to keep the flock who remained in this city even after Advent had been driven out healthy and as happy as they could be made. Milodi's music was a great boon to that. She had bridged the gap between human and alien in her music. Many of the Elders' former slaves had come to listen. Not everyone trusted, but everyone agreed that her music was special.

"People like my music." Milodi admitted as she laid her arms around the crying elder. "I like making people happy. It never seems to last, but I do like making them happy. Someone else will take my place, Sister. You know this." She was shocked when Amadri snarled in her ear.

"No one can take your place!" Amadri snapped. "No one! I do not want your joy to vanish from our world. And certainly not like _this!_"

Milodi had to nod to that. The Advent hybrids had been born into a world in conflict. Humanity had resisted the Elders' rule. Even with all of the governments destroyed, scattered or surrendered, it has been utterly impossible to eradicate all of the resistance. Milodi knew far more than others and sometimes she wondered if the Elders hadn't wanted to eradicate all resistance. It didn't make a lot of sense to her, but little did after the Elders' fall. She knew that was wisdom, but that was cold comfort all the times she cried herself to sleep. Everyone had been shocked by X-Com's stunning victory. Or had this been planned all along? Milodi knew better than to voice her concerns to anyone. She had shared her worries with the Lady and the Ethereal who had not been affiliated with the Elders shared many of them. Every priest had known that their time was finite, that if the Elders decreed, they would die. Probably in battle, but this? Not like this.

"You are going to see Alley." Amadri said firmly and Milodi stiffened. "No arguments. _They_ may be able to help you! _She_ may be able to help you."

"That is probably what they want." A new voice sounded and Milodi gave a squeak as Jane Kelly entered the room followed by a human woman the Priestess did not know. The X-Com colonel was a blank slate to Milodi's mental probes. She didn't know how the colonel shielded her mind so well, but everything she had heard made her very glad she could not sense Jane Kelly's mind.

"Colonel!" Amadri rose to stand protectively beside Milodi who quailed as Jane looked at her. "Don't!"

"It wasn't us." Jane Kelly said softly. "It wasn't Vahlen either. I asked." Milodi stared at the human shaped weapon of mass destruction and Jane Kelly nodded. "She didn't lie to me." Both of the hybrids stared at her and Jane shook her head. "Don't ask."

Calm. Cool. Collected. A fairly blunt warning. This woman was capable of just about anything. Milodi had heard stories of the ranger going sword to sword with one of the Elders' Chosen and _then_ with an Avatar that housed their minds and power! The former priest believed it. What this human could do had to be seen to be believed and it was never pretty.

"If it wasn't you… then who?" Milodi asked, her few reserves fleeing. The Colonel looked at the other who frowned.

"There are those on this planet who still follow the Elders' commands, even with them gone." The woman who had followed Jane into the room was oddly indeterminate. She had pale skin and dark hair, but her face was hard to make out. A trick of the light or something worse? She wore armor like the Colonel's but subtly different. Jane Kelly just looked at her and the other shook her head. "It isn't the same as what I seek, but it is close enough to be worrisome. If there are records, they will be in the same facility."

"You cannot get in there alone." Jane said sternly.

"And if you go in guns blazing, the place torches all of its data. It is designed that way." The other replied without heat. "I can get in. Getting out will be… interesting." She shrugged as both priestesses stared at her. "My name is Elizabeth. I am here to help."

"Are you?" Milodi felt a presence in her. The Lady was watching and she was _not_ happy. What was going on?

"I do not think this has anything to do with why I am here." Elizabeth said quietly. "But I have my duty. I will do my duty and if in doing so, I can help this one?" She nodded to Milodi who felt an odd frisson of emotion from the Lady. Wariness? Worry? _Rage? _She had never felt the Lady so furious."Then that is a good thing."

"Really?" Milodi snapped and everyone looked at her. "I do not believe you!" That _wasn't_ Milodi's voice. It echoed through every mind present.

She speared a finger at Elizabeth who froze. Jane Kelly went totally still, her hand millimeters from her holstered pistol. It was in a concealed holster, due to the priests trying to maintain a weapons free environment, but she went nowhere unarmed. Concealing it was a concession she made to them and they appreciated it.

"Milodi..." Amadri begged but stilled as yellow power surrounded the stricken hybrid and Milodi rose to her feet, bouyed up by power borrowed from a dear friend. "_Lady._" Amadri bowed her head in respect and retreated.

_I will do my best to aid my friend, your sister, gentle priest._ The Ethereal's mind wafted over the room and everyone was heartened for a moment. Only a moment. _But this is likely to be loud._

"Um… Elizabeth?" Jane Kelly slowly lowered her hand from her holster. She wasn't stupid. No weapon she could carry in here had a chance of hurting the form who was aiding Milodi. Nor did she want to. "You know the Lady?" She inquired very carefully.

"We have met." Elizabeth was calm, but clearly wary. "I am not her enemy. I never was."

_Could have __fooled me._ The Lady replied. _When someone _lies_ to you and __then _leaves_, it tends to color any future relations. _Amadri and Milodi both looked stunned. Jane Kelly was a statue.

"Nothing I said was a lie." Elizabeth said quietly. "You never asked."

_Really?_ The Lady did not quite demand that. _And when I asked where you came from, your answer wasn't a lie?_

"It wasn't a lie." Elizabeth said sadly. "I was raised in islands you know as the Bahamas. I lived there most of my life."

_T__hat was not what I asked and you knew it!_ The Lady all but spat that out. _There was no family by that name there. Ever!_

"You lied to her and expect trust from me?" Jane Kelly was angry now.

"Trust will not happen, Colonel Jane Kelly." Elizabeth replied. "I do not have time to earn trust. I do expect professionalism." At that, Jane went utterly still. 'Death lurking close' still and Elizabeth shook her head. "I am not your enemy, Colonel. I am not her enemy. I want to help and I may be the only one who can."

_At what cost?_ The Lady demanded. _I felt what you did._ At that, Elizabeth went as still as the Colonel had. _You can hide such things from most, but not from me. I do not know _what_ you did, but I felt it happen. So did others. You have no idea the mess it made._

"I do, actually." Elizabeth said with a deep sigh. She slowly relaxed. "What I did was needed. There was far more at stake than anyone can ever know." She shook her head. "Yes, I misled you. I am not from around here as you have no doubt guessed. But I can help. I have my own duty but in this case? I can help one who is blameless." She bowed her head to Milodi, a nod of respect. "Measured against a lifetime's worth of bad? Any good I do will help balance my soul."

"I am not blameless." Milodi managed even though her fatigue rose up to strangle her.

"You didn't deserve this." Elizabeth replied. "This is the kind of thing my ancestors did to one another. Cruel simply for the sake of it, to stifle joyful songs simply because they _can?_ No one deserves such a death."

"I have done evil." Milodi said weakly as the Lady's power ebbed.

"So have I." Elizabeth agreed. "But I try hard not to. Or at least to balance it with good. You bring hope now. Hope is probably the single most precious commodity in this fallen world. If I can help, I must."

"Why?" Milodi demanded, trying for stern, but it came out a croak.

"Because I love to sing but I suck at it." Elizabeth smiled a little as everyone gaped at her. "You make beauty come to life in your songs." She shook her head. "I will be around."

With that, she turned her back and left the room! The Colonel started after her, but a waft of yellow power barred her way.

_She is gone. You will not find her unless she wishes to be found._ The Lady's tone was resigned. _She hides better than I did._

"I am sorry, I didn't know-" Jane started, but broke off when Milodi wilted._ "Milodi!"_

Both Amadri and Jane took hold of the faltering hybrid and eased her to the bed where they lay her gently. The Lady's power soothed the hybrid and she felt sleep beckon. A sleep from which she knew there would be no coming back.

"No." Jane Kelly's word was calm, but behind it lay a rage as deep as any Milodi had ever seen. "Not like this."

"Jane… let me go." Milodi said sadly as her eyes slowly closed. "I… I hoped..."

"Not like this." Jane repeated and power beyond belief slammed into Milodi. She screamed, or, she tried to. She couldn't move, couldn't talk, couldn't do anything! A harsh whisper sounded in her ear. "You are _not_ dying like this! Odin knows, I may deserve this! You _don't!_"

_Colonel._ The Lady was wary now. _What are you doing?_

"She of all people does not deserve this! If there is even a _chance_, Lady, I have to try." A hand calloused from years of wielding a sword touched Milodi's brow. It was gentle, that touch. "You know Jenni would want me to do no less."

_I…_ For the first time in long time, Milodi felt the Lady stunned speechless. Not many people knew Colonel Kelly's history. Fewer still in this fallen world cared, but Milodi knew her well. They had met during the war and had not parted as enemies. The human woman had gone through several different versions of hell. X-Com's horrible war, finding love and then losing the one she loved, then the latest horrors. It was all unspeakable but Jane had been better since she started talking to Amadri and Milodi. Now? She was trying to be something new. Anyone who knew her only as a soldier would have been shocked by the transformation from hard bittern warrior to this, but Milodi knew the truth. Knew the horrible pain that lived deep in the scarred woman's psyche. _Can you?_ The Lady begged. _I love her too._

"I don't know, but _we_ are going to try. I called for backup. She is not going _anywhere_." Jane Kelly said with a snarl as _something_ passed from her hand into Milodi. The hybrid had no words for it, but whatever it was, it was sentient! It felt scared but also resolute.

_Rest now, singer Milodi._ Came a new mind into hers, but so gently. Female. Strong. _You will wake with the dawn._ That was a promise. _I will not let you pass without a fight. _We _do battle for you._

"Colonel... What?" Milodi begged as warmth suffused her, but Amadri's hand joined the human's and their combined kindness swept her from consciousness. Was it her imagination that the voice that started singing her into slumber was orange? It had to be.

* * *

Reality

Amadri hastily backed up a step as Milodi's body was suddenly glowing a strange shade of orange. Was her skin changing color? Or was something covering her?

"She is all right. For now anyway." Jane Kelly kept her hand on Milodi's brow and the hybrid relaxed fully into sleep. "Is it what I fear?" Amadri stilled, the soldier wasn't talking to the sister _or_ the Lady!

"Yes. She has been poisoned." Milodi's lips moved, but that wasn't her voice! "I do not know the kind, but it is definitely of Elder manufacture. Some kind of biotech tailored to her specifically. I can hold it at bay, but not neutralize it. It is far too powerful for me to stop. Alley will not be able to heal this, she mustn't _try!_" Whoever it was warned.

"Poison?" Amadri gasped as the Lady's shocked mental voice said the same thing. "Who would _dare?_"

Milodi was beloved by all kinds of people. Everyone who had come to hear her music had been entranced by it, human and alien alike. Just her dying would be bad enough. Someone _killing her?_ Oh dear!

"I don't know, but I am going to find out." Jane Kelly said with a growl. "Then I am going to have _words_ with them." Barely repressed violence sang in her tone and Milodi's mouth opened again.

"You must calm down, Jane Kelly." Amadri heard the Lady gasp as Jane Kelly did just that! The mind inside Milodi spoke again. "This is not how I wished to meet you both, but this is as good a time as any. Priestess Milodi will sleep until I allow her to wake. I can keep her body in stasis, arrest the progress of the toxin that way. It is the only way I know of however to preserve her life and my power is not infinite. I can keep her alive for some time, but we will not be able to move."

"We will defend this place and you." Jane said firmly. "You know that."

"Do not go nuts, Jane." The other chided the warrior. "Milodi won't thank you if you swamp this place with heavily armed troops. Neither will anyone else." Jane Kelly made a face, but nodded as Amadri stared at her in shock.

"You know the Colonel." Amadri said slowly. "Well."

"Yeah, she saved my life." Jane Kelly relaxed fully for the first time in a while.

"And _you_ saved my _kids_, so we are even." The other's retort had Amadri goggling at the soldier and then at Milodi's still form. "Alley is likely on her way. You need to head her off. She cannot help Milodi. If this toxin is half as potent as I fear, as others of similar design that I saw in action, she will kill herself trying to stop something that cannot be stopped. It needs a counter agent."

"No, Alley likely cannot stop such a thing." Jane Kelly admitted, her face falling, "But maybe she can help Maya and Sam."

"We need to talk." The other said as Amadri stared at her. "_All_ of us." Jane Kelly looked at Amadri and then nodded.

_We do._ Came from the Lady. _About many things._ The Colonel nodded.

"I know _just_ the place."

* * *

**I bet anyone who follows my work will realize who 'Elizabeth' is. We shall see why the Lady doesn't like her.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Taking off**

(South Atlantic Ocean)

The craft broke the water like a huge white manta ray. Unlike a manta ray, it immediately ascended for the heavens. There wasn't anyone to see it except a few schools of fish, but anyone who did could have seen it been forgiven for staring. It wasn't every day one day a small white submarine took flight! Even on a world that had seen so many weird, wacky and just plain strange things since the aliens had come, that was one for the record books. Then it shimmered and vanished from sight in a way that no human craft could have ever managed. Not even X-Com's stealth was that good.

"Scopes are clear." The co-pilot of the odd craft spoke up when no one else did. "No large biologicals, nothing on sensor that is tech, Earth or Elder." Her long, thin fingers flew over the controls and another prehensile appendage touched other controls set specifically for her. No human could do that, but Ana wasn't human.

"Do not stop scanning, Ana." The pilot said without looking away from his view screens. The craft didn't have a canopy like most aircraft would have. Even some spacecraft had windows of some kind. But in a submarine, such a structural weakness would be fatal even in far less depth than the craft had just ascended from. "While we are out of the facility, we are vulnerable." The nest member called Cable shook his head and pitched his voice to the occupant at the back of the bay. "You are vulnerable. You should have sent Marina." She didn't respond and he hissed at her. [Don't try the silent treatment, Alley. We are all upset.]

The Viper at the back of the bay smiled at him, but it was melancholy. It had been a heated debate that had preceded her leaving the facility that had become their home. She didn't blame the others for being upset, but time was of the essence and she hadn't been in the mood.

"You saw the data Jane sent us. Marina couldn't have done anything if it is half as bad as I fear." Alley didn't move at all. She was busy focusing herself. "Yes, Milodi served the Elders, but she has paid and paid and paid. She has _never_ played us false. Mark liked her." Deep sadness reared in her tone as she sighed.

"You are not alone, Alley." The other non-human occupant of the ship said quietly. Arisha had come a long way from the scared, hurting snake child Alleys nest had first met after a horrible incident. The younger Viper laid a hand on Alley's arm and smiled at her mentor. "Not now, not ever."

"I know." Alley covered Arisha's hand with her own. "It hurts and will, but I go on. I have my duty to our clan and our Mother's memory. Mark would understand."

"You mean he would kick you hard if he saw you moping." Cable muttered not even close to under his breath.

"That too." Alley smiled at Arisha and looked at the last member of the team who was working the com systems. The human had stiffened. "Jesse?"

Everyone stilled as the designated com specialist of the flight spoke in clipped tones.

"I am reading an encrypted transmission on X-Com frequency nine, vector three eight. Range..." He paused. "Indeterminate. Gotta be close to hit us though. It is not a strong transmission. No way whoever or whatever it is is outside of visual range."

To hit a moving cloaked ship with a narrow beam encrypted transmission spoke of skill and high tech. X-Com. Had to be. No one else had that kind of tech but the nest. Not even their clan had that kind of capability. Then again, Mutons didn't usually go for such high tech shenanigans. They were more the 'hit things' kind of beings. The nest were far more technology oriented.

The Viper working the sensors bent back to her scopes and an aggravated hiss showed she saw nothing. Cable shook his head and primed the ship's weapons. Everyone checked their helmets without a word being said. The sonic cannon mounted on the ship was incredibly powerful, but also incredibly dangerous to anyone close. The Vipers in particular were vulnerable to high frequency sounds. No one wanted to repeat the mistakes of the past. Marina annoyed was something to avoid at all costs, especially now. A clank heralded the missile rack cycling as Cable worked his controls to shift from aquatic munitions to airborne ones. The missiles were less prone to friendly fire, but finite in supply.

"She _did_ say we would be met." Alley heaved another sigh, but shook her head and clearly forced herself to relax. "Are they saying anything?"

"It is a request to..." He paused and then turned to Alley, his face pale under his flight helmet. "They are requesting we activate the Loki cipher."

"They want us to _cipher_ an _encrypted transmission?_" Alley asked, dumbfounded. Jesse nodded and she slowly shook her head. "That… is not good."

The whole _point_ of encrypting transmissions was that other people would not be able to read them. If someone with unfriendly intentions could read ultra secure X-Com transmissions… That was _not_ good. The nest were not paranoid. It was not paranoia when people were literally out to get them. Alley looked at Cable who nodded without looking away from his screens. Ana likewise did not look away from her scanners, but nodded as well.

"Do it." Alley said quietly as the pitch of the ship's systems changed subtly. Cable had activated its shields. Technically, as pilot, he was in command while they were in flight, but every member of the nest worked as a member of the team. They had worked together so long, through so much bad, that it took no words for Ana, Cable and Alley to function as a well oiled machine. Arisha and Jesse were coming along nicely, but no one was going to throw them into firefights given any choice at all. "What do they say?"

"They are giving coordinates for a landing zone. One they say will be secured. It is a long ways from here." Jesse frowned. "It is her code, but..." He made a face as Alley hissed softly.

There was only a few outside the nest that Alley trusted at all. Trust was simply not something she could normally do. Even her clan were not trusted entirely, but the Mutons understood. Did they ever! The Lady had never played them false and many of the nest were inclined to work with her. Despite her own misgivings, she was a responsible leader. The rogue Ethereal did what had to be done, but always with the knowledge of the costs versus the benefits. Her people were not spoiled, but they were well treated, well educated and protected to the best of her ability. She was _just_ as slow to trust as the nest was, for pretty much the same reason. Betrayal always hurt.

There was really only one _human_ Alley trusted outside her nest. The one who had called begging her help. When _Alley_ had needed help, Jane Kelly had come. The hard bitten warrior woman had bared her soul to the stricken Viper. They had shared grief and then a truly horrible experience. They understood one another, the alien born operative and the X-Com warrior. They cared for one another, if not in any usual way. They worried about one another and had remained in contact after Alley's partner had been buried. There had been little contact between the rest of the nest and the outside world. Alley had worried about that. She worried about so much that was happening, but this… Jane Kelly she trusted. If Jane Kelly was saying that the X-Com communications systems were not secure, then Alley trusted that. If Jane Kelly said that any landing zone would be secure, then Alley trusted _that_.

That said? There were limits. Alley felt approval from within as she finished focusing her mind. No one knew or could know that she was not alone in her mind. Her nest might or might not accept it, no one else would.

"Where? We will need to check it out." Alley asked, her tone clinical. Everyone looked at her and she shook her head. "Jane won't betray us, but I wouldn't put it past anyone else. She too has been betrayed, sometimes by those she called 'ally'. She hasn't said anything, but if she demanded the Loki cipher then _someone_ is playing games." Her hood expanded slightly in her distress. "Not a good idea with that woman."

"No." Everyone else said in unison. They had all seen Jane Kelly at work. Angering that woman was a _bad idea_.

"Jack and Aroa are on it." Ana said after a moment. Alley tensed, but Ana smiled at her. "No sign that anyone or anything has detected them. That Manta is something else."

It had taken quite a bit of work to duplicate the construction that had gone into the Hammerhead the nest operated. No one knew where it had come from. No Elder records that anyone had found showed anything like it. Jane Kelly had searched X-Com records as well and had come up with nothing. Then again, X-Com did secrets like the nest did. From the design of the entry hatch, it had clearly been built with humans in mind. But it had also been designed from scratch to operate underwater. The entire troop compartment could be flooded to let operatives in suitable equipment out and the hatch could open in any depth. The sole manual that any of them had found in its computers was in several human languages, so, it had to have been made by humans. Heaven only knew why or when. Their Mother had found it, confiscated it and hidden it away for them. Duplicating it had been a pain in the tail even with full access to the facility that Alley ran.

The Manta was less than half the size of the Hammerhead but could fly in both water and air equally well. It had no troop compartment. It was all speed, stealth and two weapon pods. No one with any brains let Jack operate _anything _mechanical, but Aroa had turned out to be quite good at flying. Even underwater. Jack served as her Weapon System Officer and they made a good team. Alley's thoughts took a sharp right turn as her armored vest chirped at her.

"And… Right on time." Alley pulled a small silver object from her vest and stilled to attention as a hologram of her clan leader appeared over the quantum communicator he had gifted her with. "Oshina."

"I just received word." The Muton didn't go for pleasantries. "Jane Kelly reports that Priestess Milodi was poisoned but it is not something you will be able to heal."

"Who would _dare?_" Alley snarled, a far cry from the kind and gentle soul she generally showed the world. She liked Milodi even if trust was unlikely to happen. She wilted. "I… Is there nothing I can do?"

"From what the colonel said, no. The Priestess is stable for the moment, but no one knows how long that will last." Oshina was his usual self, iron might have bent under his tone. "She has asked our aid in securing a landing zone where she wishes to speak with you and me. She says she may have a mission that might aid the Priestess, but she needs more information and apparently, she will need aid."

"We cannot put _both_ of us in one place, Clan Leader." Alley protested. "One bomb and poof."

"We won't." Was Oshina amused? It was hard to tell. "You will be my representative." Alley stared at him and then bowed her head. "You know my wishes, Alley. You know our needs. You may not be able to trust the clan entirely after all of what happened to you, but I do trust you."

"I..." Ally stammered, almost undone. Her passenger helped her and she calmed. "I mean no dishonor, Clan Leader..." She paused as Oshina growled at her. "Oshina?"

"You and your nest had horrors done to you that made any evil we have seen pale." The Muton's rage was a terrifying thing, but it was not directed at Alley. "If you trusted any who served the Elders after that, I would be amazed. Almost every Muton of this clan served the Elders once. You cannot trust us fully and no one in the clan blames any of you for that. The last one who did regretted his dishonorable words."

None of the nest mates in the ship winced, but all likely wanted to. Ouch. One did not step on Patriarch Oshina's honor. _Ever. _He would not _kill_ a member of the clan. He _would __**hurt**_ them. The nest had learned early on not to do such things and yes, it had hurt, that lesson. They remembered. Jesse and Arisha hadn't shared that experience, thank god, but they had been told and had seen Oshina's temper first hand. They didn't want to experience it any more than Alley did again.

"Orders?" Alley asked when it was clear Oshina was done. One did not interrupt a Muton.

"The meeting place is in the middle of the Gobi desert." Oshina said with a nod of approval. "There is an X-Com facility there and they promise it can be secured. That said, they have asked the clan's aid in setting up a wider perimeter and they have warned that their coms may not be secure."

"That is not good." Alley said slowly and Oshina eyed her. "Much as I dislike and distrust X-Com, they are a stabilizing influence at the moment. If someone is playing with their communications, that cannot be any good reason."

"I don't know." Oshina admitted. "I do know that the Lady contacted me a few Earth minutes ago on the secure line we set up and she too was quite wary. This was just after I finished speaking with Colonel Jane Kelly. That cannot be a coincidence. She said she will be involved as well in this summit or whatever it is. She also warned that I should look to my own defenses. We are." He reassured Alley when the Viper looked worried.

"The Lady, X-Com and us..." Alley said slowly and Oshina nodded. "Oh dear."

"Agreed." Oshina gave himself a shake. "Whatever is happening is bad."

"We will be wary."Alley promised and the com cut off. She gave an aggravated hiss. "Not that we wouldn't anyway, but..." Arisha gave her hand a squeeze and the younger psi's mind was soothing as always. Alley smiled at her counterpart and then turned to Jesse. "Warn the others. Condition Red Minus."

Jesse nodded and bent to his station. 'Red Minus' was nest code for 'unknown situation, presume hostiles and all communications not fully encrypted to be compromised'. The remaining nest members would go full lockdown and make like a hole in the water, their allies as well. The facility Alley controlled was as secure as the nest could make it, but nothing was impenetrable. The fact that it held convalescing patients as well as several mothers and children made things even more worrisome.

"They received." Jesse said softly as Alley looked at him. "They won't respond."

Alley cast out her mind to the facility she controlled as as promised, she could sense it even from this distance, but little more. They had done it, shut down all non-essential systems to go dark. EMCON or Emissions Control in old school human talk.

"Right." Alley blew out a breath and turned to the pilot who nodded and the ship's engines changed pitch. "Where are we going? Mongolia?"

"Close." Cable said quietly. "We are going to have to go orbital to get there quick and we will not be able to stealth on re-entry." His hand hovered over the controls but Alley shook her head. "Alley?"

"Speed may be important, but if we lead hostiles straight to an X-Com base, they won't thank us." Alley replied. "Plot us a course over the South Pole. We stay cloaked."

"Right." Cable and Ana bent to their tasks as Arisha looked at Alley who shrugged.

"Milodi?" Arisha asked, fear rising. She liked the singer priest and Milodi reciprocated. They shared a love of music.

"If Jane says she is stable, then she is stable." Alley said in a tone that brooked no debate. "If she says I cannot help the Priestess..." Alley bowed her head. "Then I cannot. Jane does not lie unless the tactical situation calls for it and frankly? She lies very badly."

"I am not saying that to her!" Cable said quickly to general mirth.

"I have." Alley smiled as everyone but the pilot gawked at her. "Funny thing? She agreed." Her smile became a smirk as everyone groaned.

"Alley!" Arisha protested, but she was smiling as well.

"Jane Kelly is quite bad-ass, but she only sneaks well in combat situations." Alley shook her head slowly. "Cable? Retract the weapons, but leave them hot, just in case." That was a command and Cable nodded. "There is only one likely scenario where X-Com would not trust any of their own communications." She didn't want to say it. She didn't have to.

"If one of them went rogue." Jesse said very quietly and Alley nodded as Arisha coiled up on herself, her fear rising. This time, it was Alley laying a hand on Arisha's offering comfort to the younger and fr more innocent being. "That makes every one of us a target."

"Every non-human on this planet would be a target in such a case in all likelihood." Alley agreed. "The clan will defend themselves, our nest likewise. Not all of the others the Elders left behind have such ability."

"Advent is not gone." Ana said quietly from where the Viper copilot was still scrutinizing her scanners.

"No." Alley agreed. "But we all know how they handle the unexpected if it is not something they have guidelines for." Everyone nodded and Arisha of all people finished the thought.

"Badly."


	4. Chapter 4

**Closing vectors**

The Hammerhead flew almost silently through the sky, racing the dawn towards its destination. Everyone aboard was tense. They all knew X-Com had to be tracking them to lay a signal on the cloaked ship. And if what they suspected was true, that painted a big red bull's eye on them all. Not a pleasant feeling. No one relaxed as the Asian continent appeared ahead of them and they were quickly over the coast.

"Feet dry."

The pilot's call was old school. Decades before the Elders came, pilots who were flying off of aircraft carriers in a war that no one really should have fought had used the terms 'Feet wet' and 'Feet dry' to denote transitions between flying over land and sea. The ocean had been considered safer despite all of the hazards of weather and the myriad perils that had plagued sailors since before humans had recorded history. The sea was not a safe place to travel much of the time, but compared to places with thick anti-air defenses? Far safer.

The coming of the Elders had quickly put paid to almost all organized military forces and X-Com had never really had a lot of time or money to spend on anti-air defenses. What little Alley knew of that time from Advent histories as well as anecdotes that she had gleaned from conversations had always said that X-Com had been _one_ bad week away from going out of business. What a way to defend something!

"Ana?"Alley asked and the sensor operator gave an exasperated hiss.

"Nothing." The other Viper said with a growl. "Whatever contacted us, it has to be stealthy or very small. Probably another drone like we saw first."

"Maybe both." Jesse offered and everyone but the pilot looked at him. "We all knew they were going to keep tabs on us." He shrugged as Alley wilted. "No offense, Alley..." He trailed off as she slumped further.

"I know." The Viper replied. "I am scary. What can I do is scary."

Just the thought of someone who could manipulate matter on the molecular level was daunting to say the least. Anything that healed could harm in equal measure or worse. That she was now studying how to touch the _atomic level_ with her power was downright frightening. She had sworn on her slain partner's memory not to use the power except to heal and the nest accepted that. What was more? _Jane Kelly_ accepted that. Anyone who argued with that woman would get hurt. She probably wouldn't kill anyone who just argued with her, she would probably just scare them out of a year's life, but with her? One never really knew. There were limits to her self control as many had found out to their cost, human and alien alike.

"Alley." Arisha laid a hand on her mentor's closest one. "We all accepted your oath. We all accepted your stipulation, Jane too. We are all watching and we are all impressed." She smiled at the older Viper. "I do not think I could be that strong."

"I hope you never have to be." Alley said in a very quiet voice. Some people thought superhuman powers were a gift. Alley knew better. Just like anything, the potential for misuse was there. It would be so easy to fix things that she had no right to fix. Expediency was a slippery slope and she feared what she would do if she started down that path. Her current partner shared her fear and both shared a deep seated sense of responsibility. Her partner had not argued when Alley had stated that the nest was responsible for stopping her if she went too far. They had all protested, but then she had demanded the same of Colonel Kelly and that had _floored_ the hard bitten warrior woman.

Jane understood, despite her misgivings. During the war, she had been knocked unconscious by an aberration created by a former X-Com scientist using techniques that were far too close to what Alley could do for comfort. The creature had started life as a Muton, but had been 'improved' by the nutcase Vahlen. Stronger, faster and completely uncontrollable. Two of Jane's squad had perished in that battle, another had been crippled for life and Jane had been captured by Advent. No words could express her rage at that or the long and tortuous journey of rehab she had undertaken to return to duty after being rescued. That she had recovered was a testament to her own resilience and her spirit's stubborn refusal to give up. Alley admired the human more than she could say. The whole nest felt the same way. Trust was slow to come after so many betrayals, but all of them felt both awe and inspiration from that human and if they could trust any human? It would be her. They didn't share the same link with her Alley did, but they were coming around. Add to that? They didn't want to anger her.

"What the-?" Ana's startled tone brought Alley out of her musing to find everyone tensing.

"Ana?" Alley and Cable asked as one even as Jesse bent to his console and Arisha belted herself in. Alley checked her own straps.

"Multiple Advent distress beacons." Ana said softly. "All over the place. There… This was Thailand back before the Elders?" She inquired but was still focused on her scanners as Alley nodded. A clank sounded and Alley frowned, but remained silent. Cable had extended the weapons without orders. Smart human. "Now, we are crossing into what was China. Lots of radiation hot spots. They put up a hell of a fight."

"That they did." Arisha said sadly. Alley looked at her and Arisha bowed her head. "I studied a lot of music. I like Chinese music so I looked up the history. It was bad." She sounded one step from tears and Alley laid a hand on her arm. "Very bad."

"I remember reading some." Alley agreed, offering comfort as only a psionic individual could. "When the central government fell to the Elders, the whole place came apart. Local warlords took over. Army generals, local politicians, whoever could grab and hold power. Not just here, but North in Russia too. The Siberian Army fought a guerrilla war for years and the Reapers may or may not have come from them. Here, each local leader claimed to be Emperor of the whole area. Each one of them had to be subdued individually since none of them answered to anyone but themselves. They um.." She swallowed hard and she knew Arisha's sick look was mirrored her her face. "They fought anyone and everyone. It was a godawful mess."

"The Elders finally squashed the final resistance, but the population had been reduced so far that they could not sustain themselves. With all of the infrastructure damage and radiation added to the possibility of more warlords rising? They chose to relocate everyone to city centers." Ana agreed, her own sick look masked by facing her scanners. "This doesn't make sense! Advent forces in this area should have only been watch posts, maybe supply bases, nothing more. I am readings _dozens_ of distress beacons but no life signs, some of them from _large_ bases." She turned to Alley, her face bleak. "Where did all of _these_ come from? When? And… Who the hell is _attacking_ them?"

Everyone stilled as what she had just said registered. Someone was attacking Advent. Attacking aliens. Like the three in the Hammerhead,

"Check our stealth!" Alley commanded and everyone bent to task. After a moment, everyone reported readings as they should be. Only after they relaxed a bit did Alley speak again. "We know a lot of Advent forces slipped contact after the final battles with X-Com. After the Elder's fortress fell. Oshina doesn't have all of the Mutons on planet either. Jane reported that her people saw some Advent go underwater." She frowned. "We haven't seen anything, but if they had the best Elder's tech..."

"...we might not." Jesse finished after she trailed off. "This ship is human built, if modified with Elder tech, so…" He paused and frowned before continuing. "Its sensors are better than anything else I have seen in human hands, but we all know how sneaky the Elders were."

"Evasive. Now." Alley commanded and Cable nodded, banking the sleek ship to the side, arrowing west.

"Crazy Ivan?" Cable asked.

"Straps!" Alley commanded and everyone but the pilot checked theirs. Cable was fully strapped in and had been since launch. He would need the facilities when they landed, but his implants could handle it for a while. "Crazy Ivan!"

Everyone jerked as the ship banked hard port with enough force to momentarily overwhelm the inertial compensator. Another old tactic and one they had learned from a book. 'The Hunt for Red October' had contained a lot of pre-Fall information on the United States, the Soviet Union and spy agencies. 'Crazy Ivan' had been a US Navy code name for a tactic that Cold War era Soviet sub captains had used to see if they had been being trailed by ultra quiet US submarines. It had worked underwater, so the nest and their allies had adapted the tactic to defeat stealth to _other_ environments.

"Damn! They had to light up to match out speed" Ana gasped as her scope went nuts. "No life signs! Drone! Right on our tail and tiny like you thought!"

"X-Com?" Alley gasped as the straps bit into her thin body but she knew pain well and her power would heal anything that hurt her. Getting blown out of the sky might be a bit much though.

"Gotta be!" Ana replied. "Unmarked, stealth coating, less than a meter long!"

"Sneaky is as sneaky does." Alley replied. "What is it doing?"

"Moving port, matching our turn and-..." Cable paused and when he spoke again, it was hushed, stunned. "Moving to _sit under our left wing's gun!_" Of course X-Com knew what the ship could do. Jane had been riding in the Hammerhead in when Cable had deployed the main gun for the second time.

"X-Com and not hostile. They know we are ready to shoot and do not want to provoke us." Alley said just as softly. "If they haven't talked, there is a reason. Do not break radio silence. Flash port side lights twice then get ready to send Morse code." Everyone but Cable stared at her and she smirked but it was melancholy. "Jane liked a couple of the movies Marina brought from our home. Jesse? Send in Morse: 'Hail Mary'."

"Really?" Jesse asked but then sighed as he started touching controls to flash the ship's specialized lights. The ship, being designed for use in multiple environments, had all kinds of lights.

"She likes the Steven Segal movies. Not great acting, but always good for a laugh, if only at how bad the military stuff was. We both needed laughs after all of what we went through." Alley replied as the ship's turn eased.

"Morse sent. A light is flashing on the drone. A reply in Morse." Jesse inhaled. "Response… Is.." He snickered. "Okay, yeah. It is _her_ commanding that thing. No one _else_ would say '_Inconceivable_' at such a time."

"Yep." Alley said with a fond smile. "She be nuts."

"Alley?" Arisha asked as Alley sank back in her straps. "Your feel..." Alley looked at her and Arisha shut up.

"I know." Alley sighed. "Jane and I like each other, yes." No one seemed surprised. "We bonded a bit, but we are not going to become partners. There is too much blood and history between our kinds. We work well together, but no. She and I both agree… No." Her tone mixed regret and relief.

"I am sorry." Arisha covered Alley's hand that was still on hers with her own. "I... I wish I could help."

"You do, Arisha, never doubt that. Your songs help _everyone. _Milodi agreed, music is one bridge across multiple species. A good reason to help her if we can." Alley relaxed fully. "Resume course for Mongolia."

"And the drone?" Cable asked. Alley smirked even wider than before as only a Viper could.

"Fly casual."

"I hate you."

* * *

Half an hour later

There was no warning. None. Nothing on Ana's scanners. Nothing in visual range that anyone could detect. Arisha suddenly went stiff and then Alley felt it even as Arisha screamed. A rage even worse than _Jane's! _A male psionic that dwarfed anything she had ever felt. Then alarms started blaring.

"Vampire! Vampire! Incoming missile!" Ana snapped as Jesse keyed a speaker live.

"Hammerhead! This Is Whiskey One-Four, enemy is out of visual range!" A young voice, hurried but professional. Male. Human. Had to be X-Com. From the drone? "Break left and dive! I say again! Break _left_ and _dive! _There is a lake at your eleven! Range ten! It is deep! Head for the water! It may be your only chance!"

Again, Cable did not wait for orders. He dove for the deck, redlining the throttles.

"Whiskey One-Four, Hammerhead Actual! Who is firing on us?" Alley demanded tightly as her straps bit into her again. "Over!"

"Hammerhead, I have no data on who, but he is damned dangerous." Came from the other. "Get into the water and _stay_ there! I don't think whoever it is can pick you out of water. I don't know their sensors or weapons. All I was told was, I quote 'they can see you'. That means they can kill you. Over."

"Missile closing from..." Ana gasped. "From _orbit!_" Without being asked, she threw a display of their situation onto a wall screen. A glance showed it wasn't good.

"'Orbit'?" Alley was hardly the only one to gasp that even as Ana worked to figure out whatever the missile was locked onto and break its tracking of them. Advent controlled the orbitals. They had since the end of Unification! No one had gone that high since the Elders had fallen! Suddenly, the mass of distress beacons with no life near them made perfect, horrible sense. Advent facilities had never been attacked from so high. They had no plans, no preparation. No defense. City centers had multiple levels of defenses, but isolated bases? Not so much. They had never needed them. X-Com had never had the forces or equipment to do orbit strikes.

Now? They did, but apparently _not_ the X-Com they knew.

"I… I feel..." Arisha gaped and Alley grabbed for her hand, her own shields buffering the younger psi's. Arisha wasn't a powerful as Alley, but she was defter in some regards. Not a blessing right now. "He is angry. So angry!"

"Missile is tracking us!" Ana warned even as the Cable slammed the ship down faster. "It is more maneuverable than any Earth built missile! I cannot find anything to jam!" She all but wailed.

"No sensor trace? Psionic. It has got to be. Tracking _us_. The mind we sense is guiding it. Somehow." Alley said softly. Arisha nodded, her face strained as she fought for control. "Wait… Whiskey One-Four, is it X-Com?" She inquired and everyone who wasn't busy stared at her. "Over."

"Not us. Over." The drone was still right behind them. Wait, were there _two_ of them on the display now? One far larger?

"Another drone." Ana said weakly, still fighting her controls. "Massive energy readings. It is powering something and... Newcomer is turning towards the missile!"

"Whiskey One-Four, this is Whiskey One-One. Stay with the Hammerhead." An older male voice spoke in clear. Not much older. Still young, but in command.

"Yes, sir." Came from the smaller drone that flashed to their wingtip and stayed there! It was far faster and more maneuverable than they had thought.

"Whiskey One-One, Hammerhead, what are you doing?" Cable demanded tightly as the larger drone moved to stay between them and the missile. "Over."

"If that weapon _is_ what HQ fears, it is homing on the minds of certain of the people aboard your ship. You will not be able to evade it." Whiskey One-One said quietly. "Get to the water. I will buy you time. Over."

"You are X-Com. Can't you talk to him? Stop it? Shoot it down?" Cable demanded. "Over."

"He won't talk to us. And if I do shoot it down, he will fire another or a volley of them." Came the calm voice of the pilot as his ship edged away from the fleeing Hammerhead. "We cannot range on his launch point from here and nothing made by humans on this planet can outrun something designed to track spacecraft into atmosphere and kill them there. Advent shot down a couple of his missiles, but he apparently has a lot of them. Over."

"Then what do we do?" Alley demanded tightly as the icon of the missile rapidly closed on the trio of ships. How fast was that thing? Nothing made on Earth could move that fast. Not even the Elders had made missiles that fast. They had never needed to. "Over."

"Run and hide. The Colonel is activating contingency plans. Our eggheads say your only chance is something denser than air. From what we have seen, his munitions are not set up to penetrate liquid surfaces. Not _yet_ anyway." Warned Whiskey One-One. "Get to the water. Dive. One-Four, stay with them. You are their link to us. Warning, about to Dazzle. On my count, now now now!"

Whatever he did was some kind of broad spectrum jamming, even psionic! The sensors blanked and both Alley and Arisha heaved sighs of relief as the overpowering rage that had been sweeping their minds faded. Not entirely, but mostly.

"Missile has lost track!" Ana crowed and then gasped. "It didn't destruct! It is homing on the bigger drone! It… it shouldn't, should it?" She asked nobody.

The plot came back up and they saw the drone accelerating away from them at insanely high speed, jinking here and there to avoid the missile that followed, clearly homing on the closer enemy. Then there was a massive explosion that had both Arisha and Alley wincing. The warhead was some kind of psionic bomb. Dangerous to any but deadly to psionics just from the distant feel. A scream came from Whiskey One-One that cut off abruptly and then the drone exploded.

"Sam!" The voice of the other pilot was impassioned, raw with both fear and loss as the shattered remnants of the larger drone fell from the sky.

The ground was coming up fast and the dark water loomed large on the viewscreen as Alley looked up at the sky on the screen. When she spoke, it was not aloud.

But it _was_ loud.

_**We were not enemies.**_ _**We had done nothing to you and you attacked us. Killed one who only sought to protect us.**_ Alley was not angry, she was _far_ beyond anger as the deepest, darkest pieces of her psyche reared their ugly heads. The raging being actually paused at her own cold rage. **Now** _**we are enemies.**_

Was it her imagination that someone chuckled as the Hammerhead and its tiny escort slammed into water at far too high a speed? If not for the inertial compensation? They would all have been paste. No, not her imagination. The male voice that reached to her mind was smug.

_Bring it on, X-Ray. You are next. _Far from cowed, Alley smiled evilly and all of the others shivered as her mind tone changed to very much like _Colonel Kelly's_ raging berserker voice. A berserker psionic? Oh SHIT!

_Well, **you** are an __**idiot! **_Alley replied as she and her partner sent a piece of raw psychic hell _back_ along the channel he had opened to her. Said pocket of horror poured right past whatever mental defenses he had, directly into his mind, slamming the insane human's mind right out of hers with barely any effort at all. It wouldn't kill him, more was the pity, it _would_ hurt. Arisha stared at her, naked fear in the younger Viper's eyes as Alley pulsed with far more power than any psi on Earth could handle. Jesse and Ana both had weapons in hand aimed at her, but she ignored them. Alley nodded to Arisha and banished her power. It was hard, but her partner helped and she calmed, far too slowly. A few seconds were far too long in this state. She needed to talk to Jane and the Lady again. Soon.

"Um..." Cable swallowed hard as the ship shuddered a bit, going deeper into the lake. "Are we safe?"

"For now."Alley sighed and relaxed, letting her mind uncoil from its tautness. "Whiskey One-Four, Hammerhead Actual. I stunned him. I will not have stopped him. Is… is Whiskey One-One…?" She broke off, unable to continue. A lapse in com protocol, but no one was going to call her to task over that. No one.

"Hammerhead, Whiskey One-Four. I don't know." Came from the X-Com ship. "We have alternative travel arrangements set up. We just need to wait for them to get here. Over." Whoever he was, he was young and now? Hurting.

"Whiskey One-Four? Who is coming? Over." Alley inquired as Arisha pulled out a scanner to sweep it over her. She didn't blame her nest for being cautious. This kind of power freaked _Alley_ out. She knew how much such sudden displays would unnerve _them_.

"Hammerhead, _everyone _is coming."


	5. Chapter 5

**Turning**

Alley had thought herself beyond shock, but as the Hammerhead eased itself into the cavernous bay that had opened above it, she was reeling. The expenditure of energy that she had used to expel the insane human from her mind and Arisha's had been significant. The fact that she had gone _berserk_ was just as bad.

Then… This.

"Hammerhead, this is Avenger Flight Control. You are doing fine." Came a calm female voice from the massive former Advent cargo ship that had appeared over the lake they had hidden in and had blanketed the entire area with some kind of psionic jamming. That hurt, but nowhere _near_ as bad as what had hit them before.

"Avenger, Hammerhead. I am just going to take it slow. Don't want to ding our hull or yours. Over." Cable was tense. Both from landing in a space that was barely larger than his ship _and_ from the stunning display of power that Alley had just shown. The nest had all known she was incredibly powerful after seeing her heal things that no one else could, but that was something else entirely. Something that scared the _Viper_. At least the Avenger wasn't moving. If he had tried this in mid-flight? He _would_ have broken things. Probably expensive things.

"Hammerhead, Avenger." The female voice was professional, but sounded commiserating. Her next words confirmed it. "I know the feeling. I read you three meters from the deck. Take what time you need. The Colonel is waiting but she doesn't want your hull or ours dented either. Over."

Alley wanted to do something. Arisha was crying softly. She had been ever since the mind that had attacked them had fled Alley's wrath. After Alley had shown them all what she could do. Alley for her part just sat as Jesse tried to console his partner. Alley so wanted to coil up around Arisha, to offer comfort, but she couldn't. Ana was still covering her with a pistol as Alley had demanded and she did not want Ana to shoot. Ana would, Alley knew that, to protect the rest of the nest. It would hurt Ana badly to kill one of her sisters. Alley would not do that to her sister, so she remained still even as a soft 'clunk' sounded. They were down.

"Permission to come aboard?" Came a familiar voice and Cable hit the door release as he muttered something that didn't sound like protocol. Colonel Kelly stepped in, her face grave as she took in the situation. Everyone's eyes bulged. She wasn't _armed!_ She was in fatigues, not armor! Her long dark hair was bound behind her head and her face was sad. She knew. Somehow. She shook her head. "Oh, Alley."

"Hi Jane." Alley said very quietly.

"Put it away." Colonel Kelly said to Ana who did not move. "Alley won't do anything. She is _as_ scared right now or _more so_ than any of us are. She is not suicidal, she is not homicidal. She is angry. We all are, but she is better than him." Jane bowed her head. "Better than me."

"That is not true!" Alley snapped and then froze as Jane glared at her, but was it mocking?.

"Alley? Shut up_._" Totally calm, totally cool and totally impossible! Every member of the nest stilled. The crazy human had _not_ just…

Everyone stilled _again_ as Alley started to giggle! She fought her giggles for a moment and then they subsided to chuckles. Only when she hiccuped once and managed to stifle her mirth did she sigh deeply and slowly, ever so slowly, curled up on the floor as only a Viper could. Maybe a minute later, she was as relaxed as she was going to get and Ana relaxed, the other Viper's weapon vanishing.

"I messed up, Jane." Alley said in a tiny voice. "I... I may have hurt Arisha." Arisha shook her head savagely, nearly clipping Jesse who moved out of the way. She tried to speak and she clearly couldn't. "I… Jane?" She begged as Colonel Kelly looked from one psi to the other.

"Trust won't happen between X-Com and the nest. Not after all of what happened." The X-Com soldier said quietly. "I know this but maybe we _can_ help. If you let us. _Only_ if you let us."

"I… Cable, Jesse… Arisha, Ana… I can't… I cannot make such a decision." Alley said weakly. Cable looked at the others and spoke when none of them did.

"We follow your lead, Alley." Cable was calm. "We were made to follow orders and we cannot help but do so. We have free will within those orders. Mother and Mark made sure we did. What you and Marina and Aroa have done since helps, but we have to have a commander, Alley. You don't want the job. No one would. But… You know. You are the one we look to. The one we obey."

"No." Alley curled tighter. "I _cannot_ be Mark or Mother!"

"No one is asking you to, Alley." Jane said gently. "No one would dare." She smiled and it was as Death itself was smiling. "You know why."

Anyone trying to hurt Alley in Jane's presence was going to die. Human, alien, whatever. They would die. Period. Jane Kelly had few outside of her teams that she called 'friend' and protected those she did. She and Alley were friends. Odd, but no odder than much in this fallen world.

"Jane… I can't!" Alley begged as Jane slowly sank to kneel on the deck beside the all but sobbing Viper and laid a hand on Alley's flank. "We... We _can't!_"

"You can do anything you want." Jane replied not moving, just leaving her hand where it was. Alley covered it, trembling. "I know you are afraid. So am I. After so long alone… I am afraid to open my heart again." She sighed. "Neither of us is whole, Alley. We are not going to be. We are not going to mesh, we both know this. We are friends and we will stay that way for now." She shook her head. "I don't know what else to say. I am no good with this. Whatever may or may not develop between the two of us, we need to focus on the _now_. X-Com just hurt you again." She looked at Arisha who was shivering in Jesse's hands. "Maybe it wasn't us, but it _was_ X-Com."

"One of your pilots just died protecting us." Arisha's voice was barely a whisper. A torn, bleeding whisper. "Alley is hurting too. It wasn't her."

"There wasn't a pilot! That was a drone." Cable protested, only to pause as Jane, Alley and Arisha all shook their heads in unison. "It _wasn't?_" He asked, horrified.

"It was, but the pilot was directly connected to it. Far tighter than was safe." Jane said sadly. "His body is alive. As far as anyone can tell? His mind is gone." She slumped as Cable slumped in shock. All three of the humans in the bay bowed their heads and after a moment, all of the Vipers did likewise. "He was a good kid."

"Colonel..." Alley said after a moment. "I need time to think this through. For now? I cannot speak for the entire nest. For myself? Here and now? I ask aid for Arisha. She took some kind of hurt from that explosion. She is far more sensitive to some things than I am."

"Syndrome can help." Jane Kelly smiled as Alley glared at her. "He is sober."

"He _better_ be."

All of the other occupants of the ship stared from Jane Kelly to Alley and back, confused by this byplay. For her part, Jane just smiled wider and tapped her wrist unit.

"Permission to come aboard?" A male voice sounded from the hatch.

"What is one more?" Cable said sourly but Alley glared at him and he subsided. "Granted."

The being who entered was human, but had white hair and his eyes glowed with a lavender fire. He too had no armor or… Wait a minute, he held a psionic amp, but it was un-powered! Other than that, _he_ was unarmed! Alley stilled as she realized she could not sense him. From her own puzzled look, Arisha felt the same way. Normally, any psi could tell if they encountered another, but this man was so controlled as to be unreadable. Or, he had some kind of odd X-Com power to cloak himself.

"A bit of both." The man said to Alley and Arisha.

"Syndrome." Jane Kelly growled so fiercely that every member of the nest stiffened. "Don't start with that. You freak them out and Alley will likely activate the self destruct that I _know_ they have on this thing. If you try to tease them or whatever, I _can_ and _will_ put you over my _knee_." She was threatening to spank him? Not an idle threat from how the man jerked. Then she shook her head. "Tell me Lily isn't trying to scan the ship! Please!"

"Passive only." Syndrome replied. "She is all but drooling."

"And having it explode _inside_ the Avenger would _help_ her with her saliva problem?" Jane was fully fluent in sarcasm, it seemed.

"As powerful as you are… you could likely freeze us all." Arisha's weak voice faded even further. "Why?" She trailed off, clearly spent.

"You ask me why not?" Syndrome asked as Arisha all but fell into Jesse's hands. Her partner's face was stricken. He looked at Alley. "Really? If I did something so stupid? Alley, you of all people know what Jane would do to me when she _un_froze."

"Yeah. It would get messy." Alley shook her head as Syndrome nodded. "Can you help Arisha?"

"I can feel what is wrong. I can help her.." No bravado. No arrogance. Simple fact.

"Please." Alley did not miss that Cable and Ana both had small weapons in hand as Syndrome moved to stand beside Arisha. He looked a question at Jesse who nodded.

"I do not know the weapon, but psionic energy is psionic energy." Syndrome said quietly as he laid his hands on Arisha's hood. There as no light show, no sign at all, but suddenly, Arisha gasped and was crying hard. "It is all right, Operative Arisha. You will be all right."

"Will _you?_" Arisha begged as Jesse pulled her close, soothing her as only a member of their nest could. "That residue is _nasty!_"

"I am shifting it elsewhere. Rock doesn't care about horrid psionic echoes." Syndrome stilled as Jane did. "Yeah, boss. She taught me that after Hiloria's mess. After she banished her Rift, it had to go somewhere. It is useful."

"It is." Was Jane about to cry?

"Jane?" Alley asked and then froze as awful memory struck. Jane's partner, lover, had been an X-Com psi. From what had been said? One of the first and most powerful. It hadn't been enough. She hadn't survived the final assault on the Elders. "Oh no. _No_."

"Yeah. Hazard taught me that." Syndrome sighed deeply. "We too know all about losing those we care for." He smiled, but it was wan. "I will try to head Lily off, Boss."

"Wait." Alley went even more still as Arisha slid out of Jesse's hands. "I do not have all the baggage the main nest has and you just helped me. Maybe saved my life." Syndrome did not move as she slowly slid up to him. Jane had a hand halfway up, but Arisha wasn't hostile and neither was Syndrome. The younger Viper looked at Alley. "Alley? May I?"

"Arisha, you are your own person." Alley reassured her. "I am not the one to ask." She looked at Jane who stared at her. "Jane?"

"What are you asking?" Jane inquired very carefully.

"I felt a bit more than he probably meant for me to. It is my curse, to be so feeling. You cannot shut them off." Arisha said to Syndrome who stilled completely. "I can help."

Alley stared at the pair and then at Jane who frowned. "He is probably the most powerful psi we have, but he lacks something that no one can define. He dives into a bottle to shut the voices off that he picks up everywhere without intending to."

"Nothing helps." Syndrome said very softly. "Not even the alcohol anymore. Hazard was teaching me something that she learned, but I couldn't understand it… then…." He bowed his head.

"Even the strongest drugs won't help after the body acclimatizes." Arisha was so sad now. "Once a door is opened, it is far harder to keep shut." Syndrome nodded, his face blank. "And if it is _jammed open_, then often no one has any way to close it."

"No." Syndrome agreed. "I jammed-" He broke off as Arisha hummed something and his eyes widened. "That… That is what _Jenni_ was teaching-" He broke off as Jane slumped. "Boss, I..."

Jane's face was so desolate that Alley just reacted. She swept close and coiled around Jane. Ordinarily, such would have been unthinkable, or _incredibly_ dangerous. Not now. Of their own accord, the two extremely unlikely friends' hands met, fingers twined. Human and alien, both walking wounded. Folded, spindled, mutilated. Hurting. Nothing erotic. Shared pain was _anything_ but erotic.

"Can you help him?" Jane asked as Alley laid her head on the woman's shoulder, so warm and comforting to both of the tortured souls.

"It will take time, but yes. I can teach him how to do it." Arisha said quietly. She held out empty hands to Syndrome and angled them as if for restraints. "I will abide by whatever you decree, but I can help you and I wish to."

"Arisha." Jesse's groan combined pride and fear. Everyone looked at him and he flashed a strained smile. "I know better than to get in her way when she makes up her mind. You will learn." He warned Syndrome.

"Great. _Another_ determined female." Syndrome slowly reached out to take Arisha's hands, but then turned them so slowly and gently until his palms faced up and her palms faced down. "This is new." Syndrome said carefully. "Trust..." He broke off as Arisha smiled.

"...has to start somewhere." The young Viper said quietly. "Colonel? Do I need to be restrained? Confined?"

"Anyone who tries, I am going to shoot." Jane patted Alley's head and Alley retreated to coil back up on the floor. "He is a jerk and a half, but a solid compatriot and most of the time, a friend. Pain may be our lives, a painful death our fates, but it doesn't mean we have to like it."

"No." Came from every member of the nest.

"You all need some downtime, even as enhanced as you are." Jane said after a moment. "We are on our way to the Gobi base right now and it is covered by a psi jammer as we are here. The one who attacked you cannot detect us."

"If he could?" Alley knew the answer even before Syndrome spoke up.

"We would probably die. We failed." Syndrome replied. "Earth still has aliens on it and some of our allies _are_ aliens. He will kill us as surely as he will kill you. I tried to explain and he called me a traitor before he tried to kill me." The human psi shook his head. "He is nothing but rage. I got nothing about where he came from or why he is here, but I know what he is going to do. Slaughter any and every alien he can detect." He made a face. For such a controlled person? That was a scream of frustration. "And anyone else who gets in his way."

"Several city centers are still under Advent control." Alley said weakly and Jane nodded.

"And those are likely his next targets." Jane sighed deeply and relaxed. "I will have food brought. You can scan it-" She broke off yet again as Alley gave the hands she still held a squeeze. "Alley?"

"Arisha is right. Cable..." Alley nodded to the pilot. "_You_ are right too, although I fully expect that if I mess up, you _will_ call me on it. Preferably privately." That was both sarcastic _and_ commanding. Cable nodded. She looked at Ana and Jesse. "_All_ of you." Again, a command.

"Alley." Jane was stunned. "You don't have to do this. I understand about security. Believe me, I do."

"Security is one thing, Jane." Alley gave her hands another squeeze and released them to slither back a bit. "Unneeded paranoia that only hurts people? That is not."

"It is not paranoia if they _are_ out to get you!" Jane protested. "They _are!_"

"Not 'You, Jane. 'Us'." Alley said sadly. "To that nut? You are tainted by your association with me and others. We will never be partners, but we are friends We share our pain and come away stronger for the sharing. You are not alone." She looked at Syndrome who was eyeing her. "And if you hurt Arisha or spread anything that was said in here, they won't be able to ID you with dental records." Jane laughed at that.

"Silly snake! You _would_ quote that!" The Colonel snorted. "If he does? He knows what I will do."

"Let alone what Bradford would do." Ana spoke up for the first time and Syndrome actually winced.

"You don't need to trot out the big guns. I am not going to betray you, leaving aside maybe not hearing the voices? I like my health." Syndrome all but threw the words out. With good reason.

Bradford was _dangerous_. He never got a lot of press. He stayed out of the limelight. What few people remembered on seeing him acting as the Executive Officer for the Avenger was that he had survived for _twenty years_ on the run from the Elders' forces. The only way to do that? Be sneaky and ruthless as hell. He was one of the _few _humans that the nest considered a fellow professional covert operative. Jane was not covert by choice. He _was_. He had worked with their _Mother_ for god's sake and not told _anyone_ even in his own organization! That he was as dangerous or more so than the Colonel in his own way was basically moot. He had long experience in very dark places and the nest were wary of him. That said? They might not trust him or even like him all the time, but they did enjoy working with him. Actual trained professionals in their line of work were so _rare_.

Yes, that was insane, but so were their lives.

"I don't know about you, but I could use a shower or bath." Alley said with a smile as Jane stared at her. "A meal sounds good too. That pilot,… I am sorry Jane. I know it is the job, but losing people is never easy or it _shouldn't_ be. One time we were talking, you said X-Com has a memorial. I would like to visit. He didn't have to do what he did."

"Yes, he did. It _is_ the job. He did the mission." Jane's voice was husky now, but no one commented. As Syndrome had said, they liked their health. "I… I can set up temporary quarters, secure them." She offered.

"No, Jane." Alley rose to her full height. "Your people are going to be stressed enough by our mere presence. Do not divide yourselves for us. If this is as bad as I fear it will be, we will all need to work together to beat this guy. Cable? Ana? Secure the ship and deactivate the self destruct."

"Alley!" Jane stammered, almost undone.

"Is there a shower close by?" Alley asked. "I need to wash some of that crap out of my mind and then, yes, we need to talk. You, me and others. I came so close, Jane." She fought a shiver at the memory. "I _cannot_ go that close _again_."

So close to losing herself in her own rage. To becoming what that evil man was, but on an exponentially worse level. She wouldn't_ need_ missiles or such to kill at weapon of mass destruction levels.

"We do." Jane agreed, but then she smiled. "And I may be able to help with that. Or, we may be able to help each other."

"Oh?" Alley asked as the others started shutting the ship down.

"You need to meet our air force and they are going to meal in an hour or so. Just enough time for a shower and us to arrive." Jane's face fell and Alley took her hand again.

"We are with you, Colonel. All of us." All of the others stiffened at the resolve in the Viper's voice. "We will stop this guy."

"I hope so, Alley. I really do."


	6. Chapter 6

**An****gle of attack**

She thought she had been prepared for it. She wasn't. If Jane hadn't warned her… Alley didn't know what she might have done if she had been alone. Then again? If she had been alone, even with all of her power she wouldn't have lived to set foot on _any_ of this ship called the Avenger, let alone this deep in it. Jane was beside her, an oddly supportive presence even in full armor and armed as she was now. Syndrome had taken Arisha and Jesse to see the top level of X-Com's brass, to ask for permission to learn from Arisha. Alley wasn't sure about that, but she was glad that Cable and Ana had remained to secure the ship. The less the nest strained X-Com's control the better.

_That_ said? It was her _other_ companion that drew the eye.

Bradford was also in armor and hefted a heavily modded assault rifle with the ease of long familiarity. His scowl said it all and the one luckless tech who approached had been growled at and wisely fled. No one else tried to talk to him. Alley had disarmed, but she _was_ a weapon and everyone knew it. She couldn't take out the glands in her throat that generated her spit and even if she could? She couldn't shut off her powers. Psi and molecular control made for a scary combination. She was in control, but just barely. She was tense. The sheer hatred on this ship was palpable even to people who were not psionic. She was only doing this because she felt she had to.

The compartment was fairly large and well lit. One wall held a long, low piece of furniture that almost every human that was even close to human always put up as soon as they went somewhere. Bars were pretty much ubiquitous. Humans always wanted something to drink even if it was toxic (maybe especially if it was) and the place served as bars always had. As a social place for people to unwind after long, stressful days. Even here, even now, half a dozen humans found solace in drinks that were probably less alcoholic than most. This _was_ a warship after all.

Here? The compartment served another purpose as well.

Neither of her escorts spoke as the Viper slithered into the bar and towards the wall that she had been told about. No one in the bar moved. Jane had her shotgun in hand and knowing her? Off safe. No one spoke as Alley moved to the wall and saw the small memorials that lined it. So many of them. Dozens. Hundreds. None of them were much, just dates and names. One name drew the Viper's eye. Jenni Parker 'Hazard'. Alley reached out to touch the small plaque and more than one person inhaled, but Jane spun, her glare and ready shotgun, silencing whatever was going to be said. What Alley said though, silenced them even more.

"Rest well, warrior sister." Alley bowed her closed hood over her hand. "We are lessened by your loss, but we remember and while we remember, we will fight for the freedom you held so dear."

She retracted her hand into the utter silence and started for the end of the wall, the dates on the plagues coming closer to the present day. Then she paused. The last one was not recent, a month or so previous. She turned to Jane who stared at it and then shook her head.

"There hasn't been time." Jane said sadly. "It was just this morning and the docs still hope." She heaved a sigh. "I… I don't."

"Hope is not a bad thing, Jane." Alley returned her sigh with interest. "You, all of you, have done your duty. You have all suffered. Fought for so long. I am sympathetic, but I do understand your feelings. The hate you feel for any who served the Elders. What the Elders did to your people, what they did to us… They were evil. They needed to be stopped and you did. Well done." That was to everyone and no one moved. Alley shook her head. "We need to go. I needed to see. I know how much our nest paid for the Elder's evil, but I needed to see."

"'Paid'? You?" Came a voice for the bar and the woman behind it. Her face held nothing but scorn. Alley looked at her and recognized her from images. Her name was Karen and she had been one of the last to feel the nest's touch while the humans and Vipers had served the Elders. She had been captured by the nest, taken to Advent lockup and interrogation. What little Alley knew of what happened to her there was bad. She had been a full on Resistance leader, Advent had likely not been gentle. "What do _you_ know about paying?" The angry woman demanded.

"I know that if you do not find a way that involves less hate, you are as dead as I am." Alley replied calmly and everything stilled again. Everyone looked at her and then at Jane and Bradford. "I am a clone and sterile. Nothing I do changes that. None of my power, none of my friends' skill or sneakiness can change that. The Elders built my kind to have a time and then stop. I can hold it a bit longer, but have no fear, X-Com, you have won. None of my kind will be left on this planet in ten years. The other species may find a way to leave, to go back where they came from. We Vipers cannot because we were made _here_." Alley pointed at the floor in the sudden silence. Many looked at Bradford who nodded slightly. "You know war, horrible unending war. Death and destruction on a global scale. Personally? I am sorry for what your people suffered. I do what I can to mitigate the horror. Because I know the Elders' evil first hand just like you do. You cannot forgive any more than I can, but beware, human, that path leads only to the death and damnation that wait me."

"Does it?" A calm voice sounded as a woman Alley did not know rose from a booth in the corner. She was odd. She wasn't X-Com. She was not wearing their uniform. She was in armor, but it wasn't X-Com and what was that rifler that hung across her back? Alley had never seen anything quite like it. Jane and Bradford were spinning to cover her and Jane opened her mouth.

"_Elizabeth?_" The ranger demanded as she aimed and everyone else ducked for cover. "How the hell did you get in here?"

Alley was focused the woman. She wasn't human. She didn't resonate to Alley's senses as human. What was she? A door hissed open to her left and two women came in. One was an X-Com psi, the white hair and lavender eyes were a dead giveaway. She was in armor but held no weapon. The other woman wore a set of surgical scrubs and both stilled as they took in the scene. Alley went utterly still as she realized that the woman in scrubs had the _other woman's face!_ Both women stared at each other as Bradford spun to cover the newcomer and Jane took closer aim at the one who had risen. The psi beside her froze solid.

"Damn." The woman in scrubs said with a sigh. "Best laid plans..." She smiled at Alley, but it was not friendly. Almost feral.

_**BEWARE!**_

The call from her passenger came too late. Dark purple energy flared from the woman and threw the psi beside her away to hit the wall. The luckless warrior fell in a heap. The energy flew around the room, touching each and every being, stilling their movements even as Bradford's rifle barked. Alley could actually _see_ the rifle bullets leave the barrel and the woman smirked as she stepped to one side, well out of the line of fire. Was it speeding them up or slowing things down? It seemed to do nothing when it touched Alley and when it tried to touch the armored woman in the corner, it was rebuffed.

"Well, hello Elizabeth." The woman in scrubs said mildly as the other woman's rifle was in her hands. The clearly medical woman's smile was evil. "Go on. Shoot. You know you want to."

"Alley! Get down!" The other snapped as she took aim. Alley tried to, but her body wasn't moving! "Let her go!"

"Or _what?_" The scrub clad woman sneered. "You will shoot? Go ahead. I am tied to all of these now. Kill me and these traitors die too, _Princess Elizabeth_." That last was pure mocking.

"'Traitors'?" Alley managed through a haze that tried to settle over her mind. She fought it. Why did she feel it should have looked golden? It wasn't. Alley pushed it back for a moment.

"You are one to talk, Lizbeth." The woman called Elizabeth snapped as she took step to the side. Why was her rifle suddenly glowing black? Things shouldn't glow _black_.

"Go back to your pathetic little family." The scrub clad woman said with a growl. "This world is mine."

"No, its not." 'Elizabeth' was not angry. She was sad, so sad. "You have forgotten. I don't know what he did to you, but no matter. What have hell have you done, girl?" She shook her head. "You are coming with me and we will have it out of you. Then we can fix this."

"I have business to attend to here." The scrub clad woman produced a pistol that she aimed at Alley. "X-Rays to kill."

"X-Ray..." Alley felt the word resonate in her skull. That was what the pilot who had killed the drone had called her. "You. _You_ killed the boy."

"Me? No. But I would have. He was another alien. I kill aliens." The other retorted evenly. "And now. I kill you." Alley felt fear rise, followed by resignation as the woman took aim at her hood. She couldn't move. She was done.

"Oh no, you _don't!_"

The scrub clad woman screamed as Jane Kelly spun and fired. Was it… Was she glowing green for a moment? No, that had been a trick of the light. Or, that _wasn't_ Jane Kelly! Jane Kelly was frozen in place and _this_ woman had Asian features. But… They had been in the same spot! How had she-? _What_ had she-? She looked sort of like Jane Kelly. Sort of. Armor, baseball cap… No. The armor was different. Sleeker, prettier than Jane's. Why was Alley's stunned mind calling it 'retro'? The weapon across the newcomer's back was some kind of short staff or spear instead of a sword. And… what was wrong with her eyes?

Somehow, Elizabeth had Alley and shielded her with her own body as the _other_ woman advanced on Lizbeth who recoiled under a torrent of bullets from an odd fully automatic weapon. Said bullets struck a barrier made of the same energy that had been thrown earlier. Was that a drum magazine underneath the weapon like an old style Thompson sub-machine gun?

"You call _her_ an X-Ray, monster?" The woman's tone was pure derision as she held down her trigger. If that was anything like fully automatic projectile weapons Alley had fired, how the hell was she controlling it while she sprayed? Every shot hit her target! "You who are far more alien than any of us! I know where you came from, gwailou. Go _back_ there and tell your master I am coming for him!"

_That_ was pure Jane Kelly as she continued the deluge of bullets, forcing the other back away from Alley. A final shot and the woman in scrubs screamed as something went crack around her. Energy crystallized, shattered and then the same dark purple energy flared and she was gone. The armored woman spun to face Alley and Alley quailed as she realized the woman's eyes were pure black over her Asian features. Then they were the same color Jane's were. She looked sort of like Jane, but not quite.

"What-? The-?" Alley managed through whatever was holding her as the dark power that touched each and everyone in the bar faded.

"Jian? She is hurt!" Elizabeth said as Alley started to shiver.

"Damn her." The other snapped as she stepped forward only to pause as something happened, the world flashed yellow, Bradford's rifle fire hit the door and the bullets just stopped. Odd, but not anything Alley was going to focus on. X-Com had secrets within secrets. Everyone was aiming at Jian and Alley! Wait! Where had Elizabeth gone? Alley had been in her arms, but now? The woman was nowhere to be seen and Alley felt very strange.

"Who are you, where did you come from and how the hell did you get in this ship?" Bradford demanded as he aimed at Jian. For her part, Jane was staring in horror at Alley who was wilting. "And... Where did those two... Whatever-the-hell they were go?"

"Alley!" Jane all but screamed the Viper's name as Alley felt her strength fade. "Medic!"

"In order, Central Agent Bradford..." Jian did not move, indeed, she lowered her odd weapon and released it to hang at her abdomen level. She raised empty hands. "My name is Jian. I cannot say where I came from and I am on this ship for a very good reason." She slowly turned a shoulder and more than person inhaled as they saw a familiar emblem emblazoned on her armor. X-Com! "Alley was in danger. I came. She is hurt. I can say no more outside a fully secure room."

"What the_ fuck_ just happened?" Jane snarled as she too took aim at the odd woman. The psi who had hit the wall gave herself a shake as she rose to her feet. Jian nodded slowly to her as the staggered woman stilled, taking in the scene.

"Firefly was bringing a guest into the bar. A new medical recruit." Jian said quietly. "The guest was an infiltrator and assassin targetting Alley."

"An alien?" Several people aimed at Alley, but both Jian _and_ Jane moved to shield her. They stared at one another. Alley felt hard floor under her. Had she fallen? Lost time? Why was Jane holding her so gently?

"No." Jian said quietly. "Something _far_ worse." She looked at Jane. "Jane Kelly, Alley needs you. She needs you very badly right now. Please help her, I cannot." She looked at Bradford. "Agent Bradford, the code is 'Cycle Conundrum'."

"Fuck me." Bradford paled so much that Alley feared her would faint. He gave himself a fast, savage shake and started muttering. Sub-vocal communications?

"Who the hell are you?" Jane snapped, clearly wanting to grab her sword but had her hands full of hurt Viper.

"Jane, no." Bradford moved to stand between Jane and Jian. The look he gave the Asian woman was smoldering. "If you have lied to me, I will have it out of your hide."

"I wish I was, Bradford." Jian sighed and relaxed almost completely, her stance still wary as medical personnel hustled in and made beeline for Alley. "Even as painful as you could make it, I wish I was. We have significant problems, but Alley is the important one right now." The smile she laid on Alley was kind as Jane laid her down for the medics to work. "You are going to be okay, Matron Alley. I swear it. They will not take you. _He_ will not take you while I live." That was an oath.

"Central!" Jane protested as Bradford slowly shook his head and lowered his rifle.

"That code is known only to me and the Commander, Jane." Central said very softly. "No one else."

"And that is the way it must remain. A secret is only a secret if it remains so." Jian agreed.

"Or unless it is told to a politician." Jane muttered and Jian cracked a smile. "What?" Jane demanded as Jian's smile turned into a frown.

"I must not say." The Asian operative looked at Bradford who frowned as well. "I was briefed. I know what is happening and why. You know who I can speak to." Bradford nodded, face severe.

"I..." Alley managed speech for a moment as pain flared across her entire body. "Jane!" She screamed as the pain reached out and grabbed her, but then it was shifted away! It wasn't coming from _her! _It was coming from her passenger! Something was attacking her partner! She fought back, using every trick she knew or could devise quickly, but the sheer power was daunting. Familiar? It was almost like the few times had touched the minds of the Elders, but not quite.

"What do I do?" Jane Kelly's fearful words came from a distance.

"Give her a reason to stay." Jian's sad words came from just as far way. "You are the only one who can and if we lose the nest? We are doomed, all of us."

"Why should I believe a word you say?" Jane snapped.

"You won't trust." Jian was not fazed at all by Jane's rage. "You never did. You never will, Honored Grandmother."

"_What did you say?_" For the first time since Alley had known her, Jane was stunned right out of a rage.

"Alley needs help. After? You and Alley need to talk." Jian ignored the question! "The Lady may or may not be able to help you both, but you _can_ help her and she can help _you_. You are good for each other. I am here to help, but there are strict limits to what I can do without causing more harm than good."

"We can't bond!" Jane protested. "We like each other, yes, but it is too late! We are both too broken, too shattered."

"Jane Kelly, barring mortal injury, it is_ never_ too late for love to find a way. What was broken can be remade given determination and skill." Jian urged the other. "A battle is being fought in Alley's cells as we speak and she is _losing_. The enemy has attacked her and she will fall without aid. I burn to aid her, to fling myself into battle without reservation, but I gave my word. I must not. I must hold true to my word. It is all I truly have."

"I… I know that feeling. Who did you give your word to?" Jane asked very quietly.

"You."

The shock of that had Alley opening her eyes. She lay on a carpeted floor in a familiar mental compartment. This was where the Lady had shown them her true self, a mental bridge that the nest shared due to their odd restructuring. Only Jian and Jane stood there instead of her nest. Alley was cradling a tiny jellyfish like form in her hands as dark purple energy scoured that tiny alien being.

"You never told anyone. Wise." Jian smiled at Alley who could do nothing as pain slammed into her. The smile fell and she turned to Jane who was staring at the pair of aliens. "She and her ally fight for herself and us all, Colonel. As much I as burn to berzark, to lose myself in the joy of battle both physical and mental, I must _not_. I am a messenger now, not an avenger of wrongs. _You_ are not so bound. Will you let your friend fight alone?"

Colonel Kelly stared at Jian and then at Alley. Her face set and she reached up to rub the brim of her baseball cap. Then her face changed to 'scary mode', utterly blank. Hell was coming to breakfast!

"No."


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long hiatus. My old computer fried. Literally. At least it didn't burn. As it was, it took me some time to get a new one and get the data transferred that I had left. Then I had to rewrite a bunch of stuff. But, here we go again.**

* * *

**Countermeasures**

Alley could do nothing but scream weakly as Jane took hold of her hand. She could sense Jane, barely through the waves of pain, but also… The Viper stilled.

_Anticipation? _

That wasn't from Jane or anyone that Alley knew. But she knew the mind. She had felt it once in passing and it had been both memorable and terrifying. Suddenly things made perfect sense. Horrible sense. Alley was not the target! _Jane_ was! Her passenger share the realization, the sudden shock of revelation. Then the other was working hard, trying to stymie a power that would not be denied. Doomed they might be, but maybe, just maybe, they could save Jane.

"Jane… No." Alley could barely make her voice work as Jane tried to comfort her. The warrior wasn't a psi, but she knew a lot about them. She was the strongest and most dangerous human that Alley had ever met. Probably why _he_ wanted her.

"It is the only way, Matron." Jian's voice came form far away. "Alone, either of you are merely prey to him. Together? You are a match for him."

"HE WILL KILL HER!" Alley managed to push the words out past her agony. "Or _worse!_"

"Who, Alley?" Jane asked as her own self eased into the battle that was occurring inside Alley's body. "Jian cannot say, I get that. You can. Who is doing this?"

"It is the Warlock, Jane! Don't touch me!" Alley pleaded as Jane pulled the Viper up into an embrace.

"The Chosen." Jane said very softly. "He died. Didn't he?" Who was she asking?

Fresh pain scoured through Alley as Jane did something. The non-human fought to keep from connecting to Jane, but the power kept hitting her and she was nearing her limits. Then the awful pain within her vanished as something Alley had never thought to feel again happened. As Jane's touch changed. From physical to something so much more. As their connection solidified. As they bonded in a way that few could define. Alley knew and was very afraid. Not for herself. For Jane! Alley stared up at Jane's blank face in horror as Jane held her.

"He was _Chosen_, Jane." Alley said weakly, the memory of pain still fresh in her mind. "Only the Elders were more powerful. I never touched his mind except in passing, but it hurt then just it hurt now. It is him." She turned to Jian, her strength fading. "Why?" She begged. "Jane is important! I am not!"

"You _both_ are." Jian replied, a sad smile on her face. "There is much I cannot say, but you both are. She can and will help you. You can and will help her. Let go, Matron. She knows what she is doing."

"He will take her!" Alley protested. "Hurt her! Use her!"

The pain faded to horrific memory and in moments, even that faded under Jane's feel of rage bolstered by something far less tangible. The feeling was heavenly and so familiar. Alley had been alone so long, even in her nest. She couldn't open up to them. It as horrible, to be alone. Alley had been since her partner had died and she couldn't let her nestmates hurt if she could help it! She couldn't! She tried to keep herself apart, to keep from hurting Jane, but Jane understood all about pain.

"No, he won't." Jane said quietly as she just held the now crying Viper. "I am here, Alley. We fight together."

"Jane! You do not know what you are saying!" Alley tried to slither out of Jane's hands, but Jane was having none of it and then her passenger's power flared and Alley fell back, limp. She didn't understand what was happening, Why wasn't her own power stropping this? "Stop this, Easer!"

_Alley._ The other admonished her. _J__ane Kelly__ may not __fully __understand the particulars, but she understands what she wants. Let her do what she has chosen, Alley._The mind voice of the tiny alien shifted to another._ This is not how I wished to meet you, Jane Kelly._

"None of us even suspected." Jane replied, still blank. "We should have. Anyone would have, _should have_, gone incurably mad after all of what happened to Alley in that lab. After what the AI and Vahlen did to her. Looking at you? It finally makes sense. She was not alone."

_And now?_ The other alien was soft and gentle as only she could be. _Neither are you._

"Jane, please." Alley begged. "Don't. I cannot lose you too. I lost Mark! I cannot lose you and..." She broke off as Jian nodded. "Stay out of this!" She hissed.

"Alley." Jian was still calm, but sad. "Love can find a way. No greater love hath a being than she will lay down her life for her fellows. You are needed now. Both of you. Jane feels for you and you feel for her. Neither of you deserve to be alone. You cannot face the foes you must alone. She cannot. You need to work together."

"They won't let us." Alley was miserable even as something went 'click' within her skull and suddenly a feeling that she hadn't felt in almost a year flared in her mind. A togetherness. A belonging. A deep seated bonding. She felt pain that mirrored hers from Jane, but it faded. Not gone, but covered by the new bond. Lessened and together? Both could cope much better. "Your people won't let you do this."

"Oh, yes they will." Jane hugged Alley gently, her berserker rage vanishing and a soft smile crossing her face as Alley nuzzled against her almost instinctively. "I am not going to give them a choice."

"Jane." Alley moaned as her power finally flared, but instead of forcing Jane back, she and Jane merged. Two distinct people. Two very different views of life, of death, all of that. But _one_ solid whole. Just in time.

The power that had assailed her struck again, but this time, it was rebuffed. Jane didn't have Alley's power. She _did_ have a stubborn streak a kilometer wide. When she spoke, the fires of hell itself might have gone out in fright.

"Leave her alone." Jane warned. "Whoever you are, _what_ever you want, you will not get." The power slammed into her, but Alley was ready this time. Power in and of itself was meaningless unless there was control as well. Alley hadn't been able to stop the power when it hit her from within her own mind, but attacking one she loved? Oh, hell yes!

Both of the human forms jerked as Alley's power flared into as green-blue shield that surrounded the Viper and then Jane. Jian's smile took on an edge, but an approving one.

"Leave. Her. Alone." Alley spoke calmly, but not. Her own rage bubbled up, straining to be free of control, barely below the surface. But Jane was there, her own indomitable will helping the furious Viper to buffer her anger with control that even an _Elder_ may have had difficulty matching. The power that had hit her before slammed into that shield and did _nothing_. "We are going to find you and we are going to end you!"

"Yes." Jane was still blank as Jian smiled in feral anticipation. "_We_ are."

A feeling of consternation mixed with fear came from the link or whatever. Then it was gone.

"When did you meet a Chosen, Alley?" Jane asked as she set the Viper back on the floor and sat beside her.

"When I met Arisha's nest." Alley slumped and then rose up, one arm cradling her passenger and the other hand reaching out to Jane who took it. "Mother and I went. I couldn't stay away from… From Mark long." Even now, it hurt, but the feel she got from Jane was soothing and the pain faded.

"Was the Chosen involved in that?" Jane asked. She did not move, did not release Alley's hand.

"I don't know." Alley replied after a moment's thought. "He was one of the Elder's swords and her nest were meant as weapons just like my nest, so maybe. Mother dampened some of my memories of that. If I did found out such? She may have taken it. She was very good, old and wise if not as powerful as many. If she took it, the memory may or may not come back." She slumped. "Jane… What are we going to _do?_" She asked, plaintive as the human stroked her hand.

"Right now, we need to find a way to stop that lunatic in the spacecraft." Jane replied. "After? We shall see."

"If he is in a spacecraft, he can go _anywhere_." Alley protested. Then she stilled. "So to stop him..."

"We need spacecraft of our own." Jane agreed. "And _you_ need to wake up."

"I don't want to." Alley said weakly as her passenger pulsed comfort to her and Jane relaxed as a bit of it touched her own battered psyche. "Lots of people will take this the wrong way."

"To hell with them." Jane replied calmly as the world started to shift. "If they bother you? Let me know. I will deal with it."

"Jane!" Alley felt hard metal underneath her as the world solidified. From the feel of hate all around her, she was back on the Avenger. "Calm down."

The Viper opened her eyes and she was surrounded by people in X-Com uniform. None of them held weapons. Even Bradford had slung his rifle and Jian her own weapon. Everyone stepped back as Jane took a deep breath but Alley beat them to speech.

"This is going to bother people, but I find I do not care much, Jane." Alley let Jane pull her up into a sitting position. Her muscles felt like goo. "My nest will be just as upset as your people, I bet."

"We take life as we find it, Alley." Jane replied, amusement seeping through her mind to touch Alley's. She wasn't a psi, but she had known many and she knew how to reassure Alley with far more than words. "One day at a time."

"Colonel. Report." Bradford wasn't angry. Was he amused? Hard to say.

"Not sure what that was, sir." Jane admitted. "A powerful psionic attack aimed at Alley. I helped her. Alley says it was similar feel to the Chosen Warlock." Everyone stilled and Jane nodded. "And yes, sir. I read the report on that assault. He died, so..." She shrugged. "We need to find out if he is gone or not."

"Not good." Bradford said with a growl as he looked at Jian who remained impassive. "We need to talk. All of us."

"Clearly Jian cannot explain much at all." Jane shook her head as a medical gremlin started to scan Alley. "There is nothing wrong with Alley. The attack was intended to draw me in. It worked, but not like whoever that was planned. Between Alley and me, we gave whoever it was pause."

"Then how can we trust you?" That was from Karen the angry bartender.

"Do I look like I care whether you trust me or not?" Jane asked in a mild voice that promised pain if the other continued. Everyone shifted back except Jian who frowned. Alley beat them all to speech again.

"Jane, calm down." The Viper repeated as loudly as she could. Not very. "Everyone on this ship has a right to their anger. Even me." That was to Karen who flushed. "Right now, we need to deal with the people attacking us. Whether it is more than one group or they are working together. To beat them, we need to work together. We may not like or trust one another, but if we do not work together, we are doomed." At that, Jian smiled and nodded.

"Well said." Jane gathered the Viper up and lifted her easily as the human rose despite the Viper's sputtered protests.

"Jane! I can walk!" Alley froze as Jane's face splint into a grin. "Um..."

"_Really?_" Butter might not have melted in Jane Kelly's mouth as everyone in the bar seemed to be fighting grins. Vipers didn't have _legs!_ Alley groaned.

"Okay, okay. I am weak, but capable of locomotion." Alley said primly and Jane smiled at her, but did not lower her back to the floor. "Jane. Please?"

"Alley." Bradford was fighting a grin too, it seemed, but his voice was serious. "Right now, you are one of the most important people on this planet. Between your own power, your nest and now the Colonel's bond? We need to take care of you."

"I do not want to cause trouble." Alley said weakly as Jane started for the door. Jian and Bradford followed her as well as two absolutely flabbergasted medics. "And this will."

"Yeah, it probably will." Bradford smiled suddenly and Alley stared at him. That was the first time she had seen a natural smile on his face. "But I _do_ want to watch you explain this to your nest and the Commander."

"You are evil." Alley gave in and curled up in Jane's arms. It felt so good, so familiar and yet, so not. Jane might not be an easy person to know, to like, but it didn't matter. She cared.

"Duh."

* * *

A fairly quiet but intense thirty minutes later

"Alley?" Arisha's soft, worried voice pulled Alley out of her doze and the Viper sat up as best she could on the bed. Not very. Even with all of the medical help here, she was weak still. Add to that? Human beds were not designed for Vipers, but X-Com had outdone itself. She was as comfortable as she could be.

Or, she _had_ been.

Arisha was at the door to the X-Com infirmary, eyeing the guards at said door who eyed her right back. No one was pointing weapons at one another, so that was good, but the tension level was rising. She wasn't hurting now and that was good thing, but she felt like a wet noodle. She would recover quickly, the docs and Jane had all promised that, but she had used up a _lot_ of energy.

"Arisha." Alley looked at the guards. "She is cleared, is she not?"

"The Colonel said no one in without showing authorization, Ma'am. Not even the brass." The guards almost saluted her and Alley sighed. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I ain't gonna cross the Colonel."

"Probably wise." Alley said dryly enough that both guards looked amused. "This is weird enough as it is. Arisha? Did you get an ID?"

"Oh." Arisha paused and looked a bit embarrassed. "I did. Oops." She turned her hand and showed a wrist mounted thing that was probably a bit more than a watch from how it glowed. "I apologize. Everything is new and I really do not want to cause problems."

"You are a good soul, Arisha." Alley said quietly as Arisha presented her wrist to the guard who produced a scanner and ran it over the ID. "I hope you stay that way, but with so many security breaches, they are going to be on high alert. Do not stress them more than they are. Follow their protocols." That was a warning and a command. Arisha nodded. "May she come in?"

"We have to watch, but yes." The guard moved aside to let Arisha into the bay.

"Bunch of mother hens." Alley sighed as Arisha slithered up to her. "You okay?" She asked.

"Mostly. There is a lot I cannot talk about." Arisha warned. Alley looked at her and the younger Viper slumped a bit. "I thought I knew what secrets were. I had no idea." She took hold of Alley's hand and smiled as only a human sized snake could at whatever she felt from Alley. "You feel calmer. You and Jane finally got off your duffs?"

"Arisha." Alley scolded as both guards looked decidedly amused.

"You realize the others had a pool going, right?" Arisha asked as she coiled up next to Alley's bed. She was out of the way if anyone needed to get by, but close enough to keep Alley's hand in hers. Alley looked away and Arisha gave her hand a squeeze. "Alley… it is all right."

"This is going to cause problems, Arisha." Alley said sadly. "I didn't want to cause problems and certainly not for Jane."

"I know, Alley." Arisha just sat and held Alley's hand. "But you take far too much on yourself. You are no goddess, Alley. Not any more than the Lady is. You are my friend and my mentor. You helped me and Jesse cope with what happened. Now I get to help you. X-Com is a bit miffed about what is happening. Their duty is to protect Earth and one of their own is attacking it."

"He is attacking aliens _on_ Earth." Alley corrected the younger Viper grimly. "The collateral damage will be extreme if his weapons are half as powerful as I fear."

"Me too." Naked fear shone in Arisha's eyes and now, Alley gave her hand a squeeze. "Whatever he used on us was indiscriminate. It killed everything for a square kilometer where the drone was hit. If we had been any closer, it would have killed us."

"Yeah." Alley heaved a sigh and looked at Arisha. When she spoke, it was calm, but not. "I am with Jane, Arisha. You?"

"They need what I can teach, Alley." Arisha nodded. "After? We shall see. They have cause and more than cause to hate." She looked away from Alley, but her mind was both sad and furious.

"Arisha?" Alley asked, worry rising.

"We will be arriving at the base in a few minutes, Alley." Arisha was looking at the wall. "You need to see. No words can do the Elders' evil true justice. The XCOM commander explained and I… I am afraid." She admitted. "I am afraid of what I am going to say, what I am going to do."

"Arisha?" Alley begged as the hum that surrounded them changed slightly in pitch. The ship was altering course.

"You know what the Elders had Easer do to the nest." Arisha's tone was cold now and Alley recoiled a bit from what she felt in the younger Viper's mind. "You were not the first they tampered with."

"What?" Alley asked, fear rising. "What do you mean?"

"You will see." Arisha stayed where she was as the guards moved aside and Jane entered the bay, followed by a pair of human nurses, one male, one female. "Then you are going to get _mad_, but I have my orders. You will not touch any of them. You _must_ not. I will freeze you, knock you out and sit on you if I have to."

"Arisha?" Alley inquired as Jane moved to stand by her bed. "Jane?"

"None of them are dying, Alley." Jane said heavily. "No thanks to the Elders."

"Who?" Alley demanded as the nurses started working, clearly readying her to be moved. "I can move under my own power."

"Commander's orders, Ma'am." The male nurse replied as he worked. "You get to ride until your levels stabilize. That is from our Commander and your clan leader." He warned as Alley looked mulish. "I wouldn't argue with both. Either? Maybe. _Both?_ Not a chance." He warned as Jane nodded.

"I am doomed." Alley sighed and relaxed as the female nurse moved close to unhook the monitors that were attached to her. "Aren't I?"

"You are going to be madder than hell." Jane replied as she took Alley's hand. Alley instantly felt better just for the contact. "Everyone is. But yeah, it is time you met our air force, such as it is."

"That bad?" Alley asked, fear and bile rising.

"Worse."


	8. Chapter 8

**Wingmen**

Alley had been warned, so she wasn't quite reeling.

But _this_…

This pushed her sanity to the very limits. The room that she and the rest of her nest who had come with her were now seating themselves in was spacious, but seemed filled to the brim. The four Muton warriors who surrounded her nest were wary of Colonel Kelly who had never strayed from her place right beside Alley. Who could blame them? This was a woman who had killed _Chosen_! Regular Mutons were brave, strong and skilled, but despite the stereotype, they also were not generally stupid. None of them had _any_ chance against the sword wielder and knew it. Not a pleasant feeling for any warrior. Add to that? Their orders were to protect Alley, so as the Viper's new partner, _Jane_ was sort-of included in that now. Mutons protecting an X-Com officer. Oh, the mind boggled!

Across the new bond, Alley could feel Jane's amusement at the Mutons' careful respect to her, but also a deep sadness. A sadness that Alley shared as she looked across the other occupants of the room. The serried rows of small beings were were not children no matter what they looked like. Just the few moments of talking to a couple of them had showed that none of them were children. Eighty human shaped forms who would never grown old. Never grow up. Never grow _period_. The littlest ones tore at her heart and she felt Jane's matching emotion. She sent reassurance back to her partner and she felt the alien hidden in her own body do the same. If they could help, they would. It was what Alley and her people tried to do to make up for what they had done while under the Elders' control. Cable and Ana hadn't spoken since they had arrived. They hadn't had to. The entire nest would be furious at this, but they had no target The ones responsible were in all likelihood dead. Arisha and Jesse sat nearby, both with faces of stone, but Alley could feel her fellow psi's pain at what they saw. Jesse was likely almost as hurt. So many children, abused by the Elders' evil just as Alley's nest and Arisha's had been. Now however? They would help, that was not in question. For now? Everyone had the same big problem.

"Alley." For some reason, Bradford seemed to be spokesperson for this odd group. Then again, all of the kids who were not children wore X-Com fatigue uniforms. "You speak for Oshina."

"I do." Alley agreed as she sat and tried to think. "This situation is complicated, but our response must be both decisive and swift. We cannot allow this to continue. Wherever this space borne being came from, he threatens everything on this planet. Human and non-human alike." She shook her head. "Add to that? Attacking Milodi was a coward's ploy. She has not been a combatant since the Elders fell and has dedicated her life to helping others. To _poison_ her..." The Viper trailed off and shook her head. "Was this meant to draw me out? Make me vulnerable?" She asked Bradford who pursed his lips and nodded.

"All of our information says that is likely the case." Bradford did not look to the side where Jian stood. A pair of X-Com troops stood by her. Guarding her? Protecting her? Hard to say. "Milodi is one of the few bridges we have between human and non-human now. Your nest is another. Humans and aliens have been cooperating over the last year in utterly unprecedented ways." He shook his head. "If you had asked me a decade ago if such was possible, I likely would have laughed at you." He shrugged. "I am not laughing now. None of us are. This pilot, he _is_ X-Com from what we have determined, but from where? None of us have any idea. His technology and weapons are nothing we have ever seen."

"Well, _he_ did not attack Milodi." Alley said after a moment. "The brief touch I had with his mind said that he would have blasted anything he could sense." Arisha and Jane both nodded but remained silent. "So… There is another player in this. One who attacked me when I showed myself." She looked at Jane and the Colonel nodded, just a little. "Who is Elizabeth, Jane?"

"I don't know." Colonel Kelly admitted. "When I discovered Milodi's condition, I was a bit upset." Understatement! "I sought information from many of my contacts. She was one who returned my communication. When I checked what she told me with other sources, her information was proven valid. She met me when I returned to the Enlightenment Center. She had new intel that seemed to point at the Speaker as the likely perpetrator."

A growl swept the room at that. The Speaker was a hybrid who had been made by the Elders as their Advent mouthpiece. The words 'sleazy politician' were not supposed to apply to aliens, but for him? That was the closest any in the room would say to describe him that was for polite company. In form, he appeared as one of the old 'Thin Man' archetypal aliens, a human shaped being with scales on his neck. Thin Men had always worn dark circular glasses to hide the utterly inhuman eyes they sported and so did he. Alley wasn't sure why the Elders had stopped making that form, except that they had won. They hadn't really _needed_ a dedicated infiltration type of species after their war to conquer Earth had finished. There had been no real need for them and then when/if there had? Small groups like her nest had served just as well. There was information that the Thin Men had been built with Viper DNA and Alley herself knew that such was well within the Elders' abilities. She didn't look too closely. None of her nest did. None wanted to know. That said? No one had seen any Thin Men since the war except the Speaker. He was _enough!_

"He _would_ want Milodi silenced." Alley said when no one else spoke up. Jane nodded, her face set. The Speaker didn't like anyone who distracted his brainwashed flock from listening to his blather. Everyone with any brains knew that the Elders were gone and in all likelihood not coming back. "Who else would benefit?"

"There are small groups here and there, various factions who have forted up. Who have hidden to build up supplies and forces. Either to wait for orders or to strike." Bradford replied. He made a face as Alley looked at him. "We worried that such was what Oshina was doing."

"He might have." Alley allowed after a moment's thought. "He always was a planner, but Oshina would never have targeted the Priestess. She is only a threat if you make her one and he _knew_ her. Yes, she is powerful, but she never attacked him and works to help others. She is not a valid target. Especially not for poison!" She shuddered dramatically. "He would likely consider such a tactic dishonorable. Say what you will about my clan leader, do _not_ do that!" She said fervently as Cable and Aroa both shuddered as one.

As one, all four Mutons shook their heads when she looked at them. They didn't speak. They wouldn't here and now. They didn't need to to convey intense worry at such a notion. Oshina's rage had to be seen to be believed. Even Jane had called it 'impressive'. Coming from _her?_ That boded.

"Whoever targeted Milodi, she is not dying now. We found a means to keep her in stasis for the moment, but it won't last." Jane spoke up when Alley looked at her. "The weapon used, however, is distressingly familiar. A nanotechnology created biological weapon." Her face fell as Alley, Cable and Ana looked at one another. "It isn't the same as was inflicted on your nest, but it is close enough that it _had_ to be made by the same people. No one else had the capability to make such a weapon. Not even _us_." She admitted.

"The Elders." Alley inhaled as Jane nodded. "Oh crap."

"Not the Elders. We have been watching very carefully. We know most of the signs now as we did not twenty one years ago. None of our psis have sensed any sign of the Elders'." Bradford looked at Alley who shook her head. She looked at the Mutons, but as one, they all shook their heads. Odd that aliens would act that way, but understandable. Having been slaves to the Elders before, none of them wished such a fate again.

"Your people stopped them." Alley reassured him. "None of us, none of the Lady's people, no one can find any trace of their evil. They are gone and good riddance." Her snarl was echoed by her nest and the four Mutons. "My nest, however, has found traces of what was done to us in the facility I captured and we have possibly pinpointed the facility in which our own hell was created." She held up a hand as every human in the room stilled. "I have no corroboration, but the evidence is clear. I will provide it as you desire. That said? The place is extremely well defended even with the Elders gone."

"Of course it would be." Jane paused and then paled. "North Pole?" Alley looked at her. What was the feel across their link? Fear? Rage? Consternation? All of that and more. "Elizabeth said something about an Arctic base..." She broke off as Alley hissed.

"Whatever she said cannot be trusted since there are apparently _two_ of her and one is decidedly hostile." Alley said firmly and Jane relaxed. "We will need to verify any intelligence you got with mine." She looked at Bradford. "My nest stands ready to assist, Agent. This is self preservation. He wants us dead."

She did not miss the look Bradford gave Jian. Neither did Jane. Alley sent a quick pulse of worry to Jane and the Colonel relaxed. Some things were not for public consumption.

"We will talk." Bradford reassured her. "But right now? The immediate threat is the lunatic in the spacecraft. We have no defense against him except stealth and he will be able to localize us eventually despite it. When he does, we all know what he will do."

"Such a craft defines the word 'mobile'." Alley said quietly. "Do we know anything about it?"

"We know it has hyperspace capability." A new voice heralded two beings entering the room. Alley went totally still as she saw them. The young woman had a cranium that was drastically enlarged, more like a Sectoid than a human and her eyes… Wait… Alley remembered Jian's eyes appearing pure black. This young woman's eyes were that way! But it was the _other_ being who had her freezing solid. The human male looked unremarkable. To anyone who had been Advent however? He was very well known. Then she felt a torrent of emotion from Jane that had her reeling anew.

"Doctor Cooper." Jane's voice held regret and shame in equal measure as the human man who was the child of an Ethereal nodded to her. What little Alley knew about the interactions between him and Xcom did not fill her with joy. What she felt from Jane made her very glad she knew so little. "All I can say is 'I am sorry'."

"Colonel, let the past remain in the past." What had once been one of the most wanted men on Earth smiled a little forlornly. "Sorry we did not com ahead, but the Lady felt secrecy was best."

"Wise." Alley said and then she shook her head. "But… You are not safe here!" She glared at Bradford who slowly shook his head.

"None of ours will ever touch Doctor Cooper again." Bradford said very quietly. Arisha had frozen at Alley's side and now she turned a stricken face to Alley.

"I had to come." Cooper said, not moving as a form in armor moved to take up position behind him. Jane stared at the female form and her face fell, but she did not speak. "I can talk to the Lady through the jammer. No one else can do that."

"If he can track _you_..." Alley inhaled in horror. "Then he can find _her!_"

At that, everyone stilled. Love them or hate them, aliens were a fact of life on Earth now. The Elders were gone, but their legacy lived on. The Ethereal who had defied them, who had fled their authority was one such. As was her child. The Lady was nothing like the Elders had been and had no love for them _or_ XCom. She had as many reasons to hate as anyone else.

"We do not know how he tracks his targets." Cooper replied. "He may be able to track her regardless. She sent me here, knowing I might be targeted or she might be. She has sent many of her people away to hidden refuges built for just such a possibility. I had to come." He repeated. "Milodi needs help and she is my friend."

"I..." Alley looked at Jane who bowed her head. The Viper smiled a bit forlornly and nodded. "Your courage humbles me, doctor." The Viper bowed her own head. "Join us?"

She indicated a seat beside her and her entire nest who were present moved to surround it protectively. The Mutons beside her did the same as Cooper looked at his companions, both of whom nodded. He smiled a little. Said smile faded as Jane took a step away from Alley, her face blank.

"Colonel, what happened was bad, but it was never your fault." The doctor said as he made his way to Alley's side. "I do not blame you. Neither does the Lady."

"I do." Jane's words were likely not audible to anyone further away than Alley was. Alley reached out and took Jane's hand in her own.

"Let the past remain past, Jane." Alley said quietly. "We look to the future." She pulled Jane and while the soldier could have resisted, pulled away,. Jane let the Viper draw her back. Both stilled as Doctor Cooper laid a hand on their joined hands and a familiar mind touched theirs. The Lady was _not_ happy..

_You realize you have both been manipulated, __right?_ Doctor Cooper's mother/patron spoke to them and both sent silent affirmations. _Good. I have no idea what game Elizabeth is playing, but it cannot be good._

_We had decided not to partner._ Alley sent back, sadness in her mind as Jane gave her hand a squeeze. _We both liked each other, but it was for the best. Now? I would not have survived without Jane's sacrifice. This will cause problems, I know it will._

_Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same if our situations had been reversed._ Jane replied, her mind voice far softer than either of the psis but easy to understand. _Don't even try._

_No. _Alley had to smile a little. _I am not that stupid, Lady? Why? Why would she push us to bond?_

_I don't know. _ The Lady admitted. _That worries me._ _I do know that Jian is incredibly dangerous. Far more dangerous than even the Colonel. __We will speak again and know that I am watching. Be well, my friends and be _**wary**_._

Jane relaxed fully and everyone else did as she nodded to Cooper and resumed her place beside Alley. All three released the others and retracted their hands. She nodded to the other two beings who took up spaces beside the group, clearly guards of some kind. No one seemed to know what to say, so Doctor Cooper spoke again.

"We have a little more information. The ship that has been attacking the planet appeared out of a rift of unknown energy." Cooper said quietly. "Two of the Lady's patrol ships were close enough to scan it and another of Elder design that appeared. They did battle and the one we know survived."

"Close enough to scan." Jane mused. "In _space?_ That cannot be a coincidence."

"Not when you are speaking of _cosmic_ scale, no." Cooper agreed. "They realized they were meant to report it, so took a roundabout way home. They take security very seriously. That said? The Lady does not have the personnel to ward the entire solar system or even a small fraction of it." He looked at Bradford. "You are going after him.

That was not a question.

"He has killed one of our people, attacked our allies." Bradford said firmly. "Oh hell _yes_, we are going after him."

"I was never a soldier, but I do know history." Cooper was still quiet. "If you send under-trained, under-equipped people after someone like that, you won't get many of them back."

"We know." Bradford bowed his head as every one of the children across the room nodded in perfect unison. That was beyond creepy. "He made his intentions quite clear when we attempted contact. We are not his people, we do not have nay means of talking him down. We have no anti-spacecraft weaponry. We never had the means of building any. Now we do and we are going to play catch up. We know it will cost and we are ready to pay the price." All of the kids nodded again!

"_NO!_" Alley screamed as she jerked upright. "I will _not_ allow this! After what the Elders did to so many, young and old alike? I am a disposable weapon, that is all I am! You? No! I will not allow this!" Her nest rose with her as everyone stared at her.

Why was Jian _smiling? _Said smile faded as Alley glared at her and she became impassive again.

"Alley." Jane said heavily. "It is what we do. This threat is our responsibility. Somehow. He is X-Com, so we have to stop him."

"At what _cost_, Jane?" Alley rounded on her partner. "Your lives? Your souls? You are _better_ than me!"

"Are we?" Cooper asked from where he sat. No one seemed to know what to say to that. "We have all seen horror, had horror done to us. Alley… It may be the only way. You felt this enemy's mind. You saw one of his weapons. He has more. He needs to be stopped."

"No weapon is invincible." Alley snapped. "No enemy is unstoppable. Even when the Elders came, humanity... fought..." She trailed off as thoughts raced through her head, her internal partner helping her to parse them far faster than even the best human mind was capable of.

"Alley?" Bradford asked when she did not speak.

"You were there when the Elders came to this world, Agent Bradford." Alley said very softly. 'What did humanity do?"

"Buried their heads in the sand." Jane muttered, but subsided when Alley shook her head. "Alley..."

"What did humanity do?" Alley pressed Bradford who stared at her. "When they realized their militaries and technologies were utterly outclassed?" Bradford stared at her and then his eyes widened. "Yes, I read some of the history. The nest all did. You _fought._"

"We lost, Alley." That admission hurt Bradford, but he stilled when Alley smiled. Said smile was a cold, hard thing, but not directed at anyone present.

"Did you?" The Viper inquired. "I don't see any Elders here controlling our minds. To fight an enemy in a spacecraft, we will need spacecraft and I know where we can find some as well as beings trained to use them and fight with them." At that, Jian _beamed! _No one but Alley, Jane and Doctor Cooper noticed.

"What good does that do us?" Bradford asked. "Yes, Advent had lots of ships, but..." He broke off as Alley smiled wider. "Alley..." He groaned.

"It's funny." Alley looked at Jian who was blank again. "I know where a sizable detachment of Advent spacecraft are housed and that just _happens_ to be the same facility where I believe the nanotech weapon was built. Coincidence?" She inquired coldly.

Jian heaved a sigh.

"No."


	9. Chapter 9

**Positioning**

"And you expect us to trust you?" Alley demanded. She did not move. Jane did not move, but the warrior had her hand on her slung shotgun. The rest of Alley's nest was frozen as well, the Mutons around them all tensed as Alley braced the stranger. For her part? Jian folded her hands in front of herself, oddly formal and non-threatening.

"No, Matron." Jian replied, a small, sad smile on her face. "You cannot trust me. To do so would be silly indeed." She shook her head very slowly. "All I can say is that I am not your enemy. Elizabeth is not your enemy. She is devious and acts in ways that defy explanation in many cases, but she is not evil." Her smile turned into a frown. "I don't think so anyway."

"What kind of game is she playing with us?" Alley demanded, only to pause as Doctor Cooper laid a hand on her arm. "Doctor?"

"Alley, I do not know what is going on." The human medical professional said quietly. "I _do_ know that some questions are better unasked. It took me a long time to realize that, but I did. The Lady warned me about Elizabeth, she explained what she could and it makes little sense to me." The doctor admitted. "I am a doctor, not a physicist." He grinned at Alley as the snake woman goggled at him.

"You did _not_ just quote Star Trek at me." Alley all but sputtered that and Cooper's grin became a smirk as several people chuckled.

"Technically no." Cooper shook his head but his smile was wide. "I don't think Deforest Kelly ever said_ that_." Alley stared at him and then she choked back a laugh. Cooper patted her arm and retracted his hand. "That said? I do like the original series and the Next Generation. Some of the movies are good. Others?" He shrugged.

"Not so good." Alley agreed and relaxed a little. "Whether this Elizabeth is an enemy or not, she can do things that defy explanation. The other woman with her face _is_ an enemy." Her tone dared Jian to contradict her but Jian just nodded.

"Agreed." The odd woman replied. "_Her_ name is Lizbeth and yes, she is connected to Elizabeth somehow. As to how? No one ever told me. Truth be told? I don't really care. If she attacks you again? I am going to kill her."

No equivocation. No rant. No screaming. Just cold, hard fact. Jane Kelly herself might not have been able to do that tone better. Odd. The woman had called Jane 'Grandmother' but that made no-

Alley's thought slithered to a sudden halt as Jian nodded very slightly to her. Alley felt her eyes widen and her guts clench as the truth dawned. Unless she was insane, the only way that Jian could call a woman 'grandmother' was if said woman had children, and since Jane _didn't_ have children _yet_…

She knew what that meant! Alley had read and watched a _lot_ of human science fiction growing up with her nest. She knew several seasons of 'Dr Who' by heart. The only way for a similar age woman to call Jane 'Grandmother', aside from insanity which _wasn't_ ruled out here, was…

_T__ime travel! __Oh… shit!_

Alley turned scared eyes to Jane and she saw her own fear mirrored in the warrior human's eyes. She held out a hand to Jane who took it. Alley turned back to Jian and made sure her voice was steady when she spoke.

"We will need to talk very carefully in a totally secure place." Alley felt each word out slowly. She could feel Jane's pulse thundering through the woman's hand, a sign of stress that no one not touching her would ever know. "But one thing is certain. I will allow no more to die in my stead."

Alley felt Jane's matching resolve through her link even as Jane nodded. Jian looked at her and then bowed, very slowly and very formally. Nothing needed to be said. She understood.

"Alley..." Bradford knew. She would see it in his eyes. He knew where Jian had come from. He was just as scared of all of the possibilities and just as disciplined as she was. He was a professional, he would act it no matter how scared her was. "You cannot fight this guy. _We_ may not be able to."

"Such a foe? Even X-Com cannot fight him alone." Alley agreed. "We will need to work together. I am not combat personnel now, much as that galls me. I have too many lives riding on me to charge headlong into battle again." At that, all four Mutons relaxed. Alley hissed as only a snake could as she turned to stare at them. "He told you to sit on me if I tried, didn't he?" She asked the closest who ignored her! "That… Oh! I am going to have some _words_ with Oshina!"

At that, everyone whose face was visible looked pained. Even the Mutons seemed to wilt a bit under her rage. No one seemed to know what to say as she fought for control, her passenger and Jane's support helping. She wasn't an invalid, for goodness sake! Alley was quite capable of handling herself! A fact that many seemed to forget.

"Alley..." This time, it was Arisha who piped up. "Oshina is doing his job, protecting his clan. You cannot blame him for that."

"Watch me." The elder Viper said sourly.

"Alley, calm down." Jane's calm was a facade. She was just as angry as Alley was, for the Viper's sake. Alley could feel her rage, but also her worry. For Alley and for many others. Alley looked at her partner and then took a slow, deep breath.

"I am upset." Alley said after a moment. "I do understand his thoughts, Jane, Arisha. But I am _still_ upset." She gave herself a shake that went from the tip of her tail to the top of her crest. "I know what I am capable of and I know why I am valuable to him, to others." She shook her head as Jane opened her mouth. "And yes, Jane. I know that people care for me. But it is hard, sometimes to remember that when everyone needs something."

"So very true." Doctor Cooper nodded from where he sat. "Alley, no one is trying to lock you up or anything. We don't want you hurt and before you say it, not for your power, for you as you are. We care for you and we worry about you. That is different from caging you."

"Still feels like a cage." Alley said, but relaxed further. "I am sorry, but it does."

"A bit, true. There are few bonds that bind as tight as caring for others. You know better than most the pain that comes from losing those we love. We love you. Can you really blame us for wanting to keep you safe?" Cooper replied and Alley nodded, accepting the gentle rebuke in his words, calming herself.

"'Safe' was never in my job description, Doctor, but… I understand." Alley sighed, relaxing completely. "We need to stop that guy in the spacecraft and we need to save Milodi. If someone is playing with the Elders' nanotech factory where they made such weapons, we need to stop _them_. Preferably by blowing the place to hell."

"We are on the same page, Alley." Bradford agreed, his own eyes wary. Then again, he knew better than most how dangerous Alley was. Add her psychic powers to a covert operative as highly trained as her nest had been and things got scary very fast. Luckily, she too was a professional. "What will Oshina say?"

"Such tactics are dishonorable." Alley snorted in derision. "What do you _think_ he will say?" At that, Bradford winced. The human looked at Jane who shrugged.

"From what I have seen, he will be quiet, calm and utterly without mercy." Bradford replied and Alley nodded along with all four Mutons. "I am halfway tempted to toss the whole place to him, but there is the chance of prisoners, test subjects, or just some kind of intel we can use in addition to a possible cure for the Priestess. As tempting as it would be to simply let him and his trash the place, we should see what we can get first."

"We need to go in quiet, get the cure and any additional information." Jane spoke up. "Elizabeth said the data was rigged to torch if alarms sound, so we have to do it silent." Alley looked at her and Jane made a face. "No, I don't trust her, but that does seem like a logical precaution, no?"

"Most Advent facilities with that kind of protocol would have several offsite backups of any secure data." Alley mused. "None there?" She asked. Cable and Ana both perked up. Jesse and Arisha looked intent as well. This was their kind of thing.

"I only had time for a cursory glance at the few satellite pictures we have managed to get." Jane frowned as Alley shot a questioning glance at her. "We have been trying to restore the old human satellite network, but a lot of it was trashed when the Elders came." Her frown became a grimace. "A lot of it was trash _before_ that."

"Coms or surveillance?" Jesse inquired, only to pause as Alley glanced at him. He flushed and bobbed his head.

"Both." Jane replied when Alley looked at her and Bradford who waved for Jane to speak. "We would like to know what is going on in our stellar neighborhood and we need better communications. Advent systems were all at least partially psionic based and most of that went down with the Elders."

"True." Alley frowned slightly but then nodded to Jesse. "Finding the enemy is always the first step in fighting him. We need to work together, so as a nest, I offer our assistance to the X-Com organization." Cable, Ana , Jesse and Arisha all nodded. She looked at the Mutons. "Oshina said I speak with his voice." They all nodded as one. "Then we need to get our non-combatants somewhere safer." She looked at the not-kids kids across the room and all of _them_ shook their heads in unison. That was seriously creepy!

"He killed Sam." A little dark haired girl whose face was streaked with dried tears said in a voice that was far too calm for such a small form. Now? She wasn't crying. She was mad. "He needs to die."

"Mina, no." Jane said very softly from where she sat. Alley looked at Jane and the feel she got from her partner was sheer desolation. She knew the path of vengeance just as Alley did. Both knew the madness that lay beyond the goal. It was also clear that she cared deeply for this girl but her feelings were odd to the Viper, confused a bit. Not at all like her normal self.

"I would prefer to take him alive." Alley said into sudden, utter silence. Mina stared at her eyes huge as the Viper slowly shook her head, but she felt Jane's sudden comprehension through their link. Jane's relief as Alley took control of the situation. "I touched his mind. He is insane. For someone like that? Death is a mercy and mercy is something that I am not feeling right now. I want to know where he came from, what the hell he thinks he is doing and if there are _more_ like him on the way."

Jane and Bradford both tensed, stared at the Viper, but Jian smiled just a little and nodded again! Doctor Cooper also smiled, but did not speak. For her part, the little girl who wasn't one stared at Alley, eyes huge.

"You don't want him to die?" Mina asked, confused.

"I didn't say that. Everything mortal dies, girl. That is part of the definition of 'mortal'." Alley put just the right shade of 'teacher' into her tone and Mina relaxed as she relaxed Alley was not mocking her. "But X-Com and my nest both know just how far a sentient being can fall. Vengeance is a poison, girl. Let go of it before it destroys you."

"He killed Sam." Mina said weakly as her face fell.

"I am sorry for your loss." Alley held out a hand and Mina rose from her seat, staring at her compatriots who seemed just as confused as she was. She carefully made her way through their ranks towards Alley. "Your brother was brave."

"Yes. He was." Mina was clearly losing her battle with her tears as she stepped to where Alley sat. She gave a squeak as Alley pulled her close. Viper's didn't have laps, per say, but they could coil so that people could sit comfortably on them, and Alley did just that, sweeping her tail under Mina to give the girl something reasonably solid to sit on. As she set the girl on her coils, Mina stared up at the huge, alien face and then started to cry softly as Alley held her. Something about the girl was nagging Alley. Something familiar, but not. Whatever it was, it wasn't important, so she put it away to think about later.

"We need intel." Colonel Kelly said quietly. Her face was blank, but Alley could feel affection for the girl in Alley's gentle embrace. "My team is going to go get some. If we find a cure at the same time, all the better."

"You are not going alone." Alley was calm and she sensed Jane had been expecting that. "My nest has infiltration experience that even your soldiers will have a hard time matching."

"We do need to enact contingency plans." Jane agreed, looking at Jian who remained impassive. Jane turned to Bradford who nodded slightly. "Sooner or later, that nut will breach out stealth and we have no counters for such long range fire. This base and our ship are both vulnerable."

"I know some people who _do_ have some counters for such." Alley said very quietly and Jane stared at her. "They won't talk to you. They will talk to me." Again, Jian smiled, just a little and it vanished as Alley looked at her.

"Alley..." Jane wanted, but Alley was having none of it.

"The Speaker does _not_ speak for all of the remnants of Advent." Alley just held Mina as the girl cried. "He wants to, but some of them went very much their own way. That base… You need to get in, get intel and get out. My nest can and will help with that." Both other Vipers and their bonded partners nodded. She looked down at the crying girl in her arms. "And I think we can help you in other ways too."

"What do you mean?" Central asked when all four Mutons tensed. This time, Alley ignored _them!_

"If the Warlock _is_ still around in some way, then there are people who need to know that." Alley replied as Mina hiccuped and relaxed in her arms. "He treated Advent about as well as he treated your people." That was both dry and biting. Doctor Cooper nodded, but was still silent. "I know someone I can talk to, bu I cannot take anyone else with me."

"Alley!" Jane protested. "If you leave the shielded zone, you will be detected and likely attacked." From her thudding heart, Mina was terrified as she hugged Alley tight enough to hurt. Far from angry, Alley just returned the hug gently.

"I don't need to."

* * *

An hour later

Alley lay on the floor of what had once been a mess hall, surrounded by the children who had been remade as pilots of Advent. Doctors Cooper sat in a chair nearby, surrounded by medical gear that everyone devoutly hoped he would not need. The Lady's pilot, Valere, lay beside Alley and held Mina who was still crying softly. Jane and Alley's nest were gone, Arisha working with the X-Com psis to protect the ship that they flew on. Alley felt a bit bereft without her partner, but even now, she could feel a little of Jane's mind and the woman's iron determination to win at any cost. It helped. She needed all the help she could get.

What she was about to do was insane. She hadn't touched the remnants of the Advent psionic network for a very good reason. Fear.

"Alley..." Doctor Cooper said quietly as Alley stilled her mind. "Be careful."

"I know." Alley took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing her mind as she had been taught by her earliest teachers in psionics. She reached out with her mind and tapped something that no one without psi powers would know about or be able to define. It wasn't a river, it wasn't a tree, it wasn't a string of high energy plasma, it was all of these and none. Then she waited. She did not have to wait long.

_?_

The mind that touched hers was familiar and confused. It was not someone she knew, but it was familiar.

_I seek the aid of an Adept._ Alley sent in a deferential mind voice. _I am lost but there are many who can be saved. Who are not beyond all aid._

_You are not beyond all aid. _Came from the mind who touched her. It felt male, confident, but sad, so sad. _Alley._

_Beware, Adept! _Alley warned._ There is a psionic enemy who tracks and kills with his mind._

_We know. _The reply wasn't fearful! It was dry!

_There is far more going on than anyone can know._ Alley pleaded._ But there are young lives that will be snuffed out if I do not act. I saw __too many die and could do nothing! I__…_ She broke off as the other reached out to her and sent a wave of reassurance to her.

_You were not ready before._ The other was gentle, but firm as it gathered up Alley's mind and held it despite her sudden struggles. _Now you are. You understand._

_I understand that every action has consequences! _Alley snarled._ And holding me will make me mad! __You do not want that!_

_No, w__e do _**n****o****t**_ want that. _That was pure humor.

Alley had a bare moment to gasp as the world shifted around her. It wasn't a teleport. It wasn't any kind of transition that Alley knew about. One moment, she and her group were sitting on a hard floor of a derelict military base, the next, they were sitting on carpet. Doctor Cooper jerked in his chair, but then a threat cleared nearby and everyone turned to to the sound. What they saw made them freeze.

A young man sat on a chair nearby. His face was sad, but proud as he looked at Alley who felt every ounce of her mind shatter despite what he passenger could do. She knew him. But this was impossible! He was dead! They had _buried_ him!

"You are not him." Alley's growl had _everyone_ freezing. Everyone stared as she inhaled, gathering her toxin spit. "You are _not_ Mark!"

She concentrated her spit as only a Viper could, taking careful aim at whoever _dared_ to _copy_ her beloved partner.

"I warned you." A very old female Hybrid stepped into view, her hands empty as she took in the situation. The man opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Say nothing! The Matron _will_ spit and it _will_ kill you! Idiot!" That was pure 'Mom is not happy'.

Of all people, _Doctor Cooper_ spoke up.

"_Hiloria __Mox__?_"

* * *

**For those who haven't been following my fanfictions, Hiloria Mox was the main character in my X-Com fanfic 'Choices'. This is not her any more than the idiot who nearly got spit on is Alley's partner Mark. More on that in the next chapter. (And no, Alley is not bluffing.)  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Break turn**

Alley did not move. She was ready to spit and her acid venom was far more dangerous than a normal Viper's. A normal Viper could spit an area effect toxin that was lethal to almost any species found on Earth. As a mistress of molecular science governed only by her mind, _Alley_ could deploy something far worse. Her toxin could kill anything at all, including robots! Said normal Viper could not hold the toxin for long without spitting, but Alley was anything but 'normal'. With her powers, she could hold her toxin ready for hours if needed. In such mental plane as she and the others had clearly been pulled into, a physical weapon, even one as powerful as Viper toxin, would be laughable. Not here. Not now. Alley was just as powerful as any Advent psionic if not more so and she had been trained in sneaky by the absolute best.

She also had no reason to trust. Less reason not to kill.

"Matron..." The hybrid woman said very slowly. "We are not your enemies." Alley did not move, did not look away from the one who was impersonating her slain partner. The strange being heaved a very human sounding sigh and glared at the young looking being beside her. "Idiot. Show your true form. _Now!_"

More than one person inhaled as the human in the chair morphed. Suddenly, it was a Sectoid in the chair! The humanoid aliens were well known after the Elder's conquest. Their almost human appearance with enlarged craniums had belied their completely alien nature. Their powers of the mind had been virtually undisputed. No one with any sense took _any_ Sectoid for granted and no one would dare to take them lightly. Everyone hissed, but Doctor Cooper relaxed, just a little and rose from his own chair to move to stand by Alley.

"Impersonating him was a bad idea." The doctor said in a mild voice. He made no move, no motion at all, but his support for Alley was clear.

"Indeed it was." The hybrid morphed and it too was a Sectoid! It still seemed female although there was no physical sign of such. "I apologize, Doctor, Matron. We hoped to spark a discussion, but our true forms almost always generate fear. We thought to show non-threatening beings."

"Hiloria?" Cooper made a face. "Non-threatening? You didn't know her very well, did you? Paladin or no, she was dang scary at times. But.. I am not the one you need to apologize to." Cooper said with a sigh as he looked at Alley who still held Mina. "Hiloria Mox was a friend. I like to think a good friend, but just a friend. Not my bonded partner through a life of lies, horror and pain." The rebuke in that statement was firm and clear.

"I know. _We_ know." The Sectoid bowed to him and then turned to the Sectoid in the chair. "Apologize." That was not a suggestion. The other did not move, which was wise as keyed up as Alley was. "If you do not apologize, you are not remaining here."

"She is threatening me." The other Sectoid sounded almost petulant.

"You gave her _cause!_" The standing Sectoid retorted. "If you had asked any of us, we would have told you that taking that form was a bad idea. Just a cursory reading of the records available show how tight the bond between the nest mates was. Any Muton would have killed you for that insult and Patriarch Oshina would likely make your death spectacular." Alley had to smirk at that. Yes, the Muton leader probably would. He loved Alley in an 'alien tough love' kind of way. Alley loved him too, but would never give voice to it. She liked her health. "Apologize! Now!"

This female seeming Sectoid was clearly in charge of this, whatever it was. She also clearly afraid but not of Alley. Odd. Then again, this was all in a mind and Sectoids were the undisputed masters of mental control, so they had to have safeguards in place against Alley. Didn't they? They _had_ to know the threat after so many Advent deaths in the remnants of China.

"I apologize." The seated Sectoid bowed his head. "I meant no offense to you or your partner, Matron." That sounded and felt sincere to Alley's jangled mind.

Alley looked at the seated Sectoid, at the standing one and then at Doctor Cooper who nodded slightly. Alley pulled her spit back from its ready position in her mouth and with a thought, disassembled it into constituent molecules. She did not relax. Valere lay beside her and Mina had stopped crying but the girl was anything but calm. Mina's heart was racing and her fear was strong. Alley reached out to caress the girl's short hair, soothed the girl's fear and Valere relaxed as well. Both Sectoids watched the Viper as she rose and coiled herself into a much less tense upright position slowly and carefully. Each section of her body went where it was supposed to. The discipline helped and by the time her slender body was fully vertical, she was calmer. Still angry, but calmer.

"You know who I am." Alley held out her hands to take Mina from Valere, but the almost Sectoid looking girl surprised her by stepping close, sitting down and easing Mina down to sit between them. She did not let go of Mina, just held her as Alley laid a hand on Mina's arm, then pulled her into a shared embrace. The terrified girl slowly relaxed. "Do you know why I am here?"

"Do you?" The standing Sectoid replied and Alley made a face.

"I know I do not have all the information, Adept." Alley forced herself to remain calm. Getting angry with Adepts never worked. They were always so calm. She had seen one die in agony still calm! "I came to seek information, to warn about a threat." She shook her head. "Beyond that? I know my limits, Adept. I am not in your class power wise, not do I wish to be."

"Every being has limits, Matron." The standing Sectoid sounded bemused now. "As powerful as we are, we too have limits or we would undo the evils the Elders did. Sweep away our own past horrors. Here and elsewhere." Alley inclined her head and the Sectoid matched it. "You do not know what you face."

"No." Alley admitted. "I touched a mind that was filled with rage, pain and hate. His weapons are very powerful and with his rage, a direct threat but there are other players in this."

"Indeed there are." The seated Sectoid said and froze as the standing one glared at him/it.

"Do not push her." The other's voice was mild, but if she was anything like Alley? She was in total control of herself, very powerful and angry. Not a good combination to face. "What else do you know, Matron?" She inquired.

"I know I was attacked by a mind that felt a great deal like the Chosen Warlock." Alley replied and both Sectoid stiffened. "You knew his power better than most."

Few outside of Advent knew how many beings the Warlock had 'used' in his pursuit of power. Human, alien, it had made no difference to him. Morals, ethics and such were for lesser beings and what he had done boggled the mind, even alien ones. What records she had found would give Alley nightmares for the rest of her life. Psionic power was psionic power and Alley knew Sectoids had died in his experiments. She had no idea how many, but from the faint feelings she received from the two in front of her? Many.

"We did." The seated Sectoid had a wince in his voice and this time, the other did not stop him from speaking. "You survived."

"I had help." Alley's calm rejoinder had both Sectoids nodding.

"That is good." The standing Sectoid said after a moment. "One reason we share so much is that such powers can and will drive any solitary mind mad." Alley nodded and the other paused. "How is Arisha?" She asked, her tone kind.

"Growing." Alley had to smile. "Still singing. I hope she never loses that."

"You and me both, Matron." The Sectoid shook her head but she too sounded a bit amused. "I never met her in person, but the Adept who helped your nest after it was attacked shared the mental feel with the rest of us. She is special." The Sectoid said sadly. "All of you are, so hurt and so lost. So strong and yet, so fragile." She heaved an all too human sigh. "I would introduce myself, but we do not use names as as personal descriptors as most do."

Alley nodded. Sectoids shared almost everything in a group consciousness. That gave them incredible power, but it came at severe cost. There were very few of them with the sense of self that was required to denote themselves as individuals. They were not individuals. They simply did not think that way. They were not a 'hivemind' as humans had once put it, but they were close.

"I can accept that." Alley allowed. "This threat is multi-pronged or more than one group. Are any of your people involved?" The question was calm, clear and utterly merciless. If they were, Alley only had one preferred way to deal with enemies. Kill them.

"No." The standing Sectoid replied with matching calm. "None of us are involved in that. That said? We are bound by the chains that the Elders forged in ages past and cannot act against orders given by their Speaker, even when we know _they_ did not give said orders. Even when we disagree vehemently with said orders." She looked at Valere and her face seemed to soften. "Your Lady is far wiser and kinder than any Ethereal in my own experience. Beware, child Valere. There are many who would use you and hers for their benefit. We will not." That was not a promise, the word did not do it justice. That was an _Oath_.

"We know." The bulging skull human girl's soft word resonated with more than her own voice, but the resonance faded as she looked at Alley. "Matron? What do we do?"

"The known foe is incredibly dangerous." Alley said quietly. "The weapon he used was designed to kill psionics. There may be a defense against it, there may not be. We have powerful weapons of our own, but while he is mobile and we are not, we cannot catch him to stop him." Both Sectoids were eyeing her as Alley turned to look the standing one in the huge gray eyes. "We need mobility."

"You would use these?" The standing Sectoid was remote again as she looked at the children seeming beings arrayed behind Alley. Disapproving?

"I would give them a _choice_." Alley retorted and the Sectoid inclined her head to acknowledge the point in a totally human gesture. "The nut in the spacecraft won't."

"That is a point." The Sectoid agreed. She looked away. "Advent scanned an unknown spacecraft approaching the planet. There was no reply so we were ordered to make contact. We did." Alley tensed at that and the Sectoid nodded. "Three of us paid with our lives along with many other Advent forces when they were ordered to open fire with anti-spacecraft batteries. It drew his fire. He didn't know where the weapons were until they opened fire. As soon as they did? He destroyed everything that fired." At that, Mina went totally still in Alley's arms. "We… We cannot ask that. We have harmed too many on this fallen world, Matron. Human and other alike. And even if we could? It would be for naught. Our scans are clear from when he attacked our bases. His weapons are more powerful than Advent's."

That admission rocked Alley back. She stared at Doctor Cooper who bowed his head and then nodded.

"We feared as much." Cooper admitted. "We perused what scans we acquired and nothing in Advent's arsenal comes close. They never _needed_ spaceborne weapons of that capability and frankly? Why would they build such and chance it being used against them?"

That actually made a certain amount of sense. The Elders had won. With the exception of a few dissident factions, humanity had been conquered. Alley and Jane had discussed that among other things during their varied talks as both scarred females worked to better their lives. X-Com had come back from that staggering defeat to claw their way to victory through sheer determination or dumb luck depending on who you talked to. Leaving space capable weaponry lying about for said dissidents to grab and reverse engineer would not have appealed to any of the Elders, let alone any Advent.

"I..." Alley shook her head. "I cannot accept that. I cannot accept that we have no chance. I have faced long odds before. The cost may be dear, but there has to be a way to stop this. There are always options."

"Yes, Matron, there are." The standing Sectoid's tone was odd. Respect? Wariness? A mix of those and other emotions? "But you know there are reactions to every action and be warned, some things will draw _severe_ reactions. Reactions that even the Elders feared." Alley nodded, thinking hard.

"Wait." Mina said as Ally gathered her thoughts. "Wait a moment..." She paused as everyone looked at her. "You say, the aggressor drew the fire of the Advent forces?" She inquired carefully of the Sectoid. "Why?"

"We do not know." The Adept replied. "We assume he was drawing their fire all along, trying to goad them into showing themselves. Which they did, for all the good it did them."

"But he is in a _spacecraft!_" Mina protested. "As fast or powerful as any craft intended for war is, it has to have sensors to tell its weapons where to aim. Spacecraft far more so. I can see him being able to target the Matron here..." She gave Alley a gentle hug and Alley returned it just as carefully. She made a face. "Even now, I don't know a lot about psionic powers. Just that they are powerful and scary."

"That they are, even for us older folk." The Adept Sectoid was kind and Alley smiled as she nodded agreement. "Where are you going with this, child?" She inquired.

"I am not sure. If he could detect enemies 'psionically'...?" Mina sounded the word out and Alley nodded approval so Mina hurried to continue. "...then why bother drawing fire? That is dangerous." That was pure professional and Alley stared at her as she shook her head. "I studied quite a bit when I realized I had been raised as a pilot, history of air combat among other things. Suppression of enemy air defenses was always a dangerous business. Space defenses add a great deal of distance to that, but I do not see any lessening of the danger." She mused. "If anything? It would be harder to hide in a small craft radiating many types of energy in the emptiness of space."

"Maybe whenever he came from, the Advent weaponry was too primitive to show up on his screens?" Alley said when no one else spoke.

"Even then..." Mina was still professional. "...before the Elders came, during the various wars that humans fought, there were very high tech aircraft brought down by primitive anti-aircraft systems." She made a face. "In fact, one of the worst hazards for some of those high tech aircraft were _birds_."

"'Birds'?" Both Sectoids, Doctor Cooper and Alley all chorused that.

"Yes, birds." Mina grimaced and Valere gave her a hug. "Human engineering at high speed versus a slow moving mass of feathers and bone that doesn't... show up… on sensor..." She trailed off and stared at the floor. All of her peers also looked thoughtful. When she looked up, Alley jerked. The girl's mind was focused. Everyone looked at Mina. "I bet he couldn't see them until they opened fire. Did he fire on your people?" She asked the Sectoid.

"No." The female being said sadly. "His rage was weapon enough to kill the three of us he struck outright. He threw it like a lance. Clearly he was trained to do so."

"So, he knew you were there, but not exactly where. He probably did not know exactly how many of you there were. He drew Advent fire." Mina nodded. "Because whatever sensors he has are likely geared towards outer space, which is _very_ different from a planet filled with life forms, some sentient, some not."

"Mina, this doesn't help us." Alley protested.

"It _does_." Mina retorted. "Because if we can get close, it won't matter how high tech his gear is. How powerful his weapons are. Even today, a well thrown rock can and will kill almost sentient beings if they are not prepared for it. Get me close enough and I can kill him."

Hate sang in her voice and both Alley and Valere stiffened, but it was the Sectoid who spoke.

"Killing is not always the answer, young one." The alien took a slow step forward and then another when Alley did not react. She bent down to one knee to look Mina in the eye. "I see the loss in your eyes and I am sorry, but there has to be a better way. Not for him." She was quick to say when Mina started to protest. "For _you_."

The kindness in her tone, the sheer understanding and compassion in her tone had Mina crying again. Alley and Valere both held the crying girl. Then Alley spoke up.

"You are right, Mina. We are overthinking this." The Viper was suddenly the center of attention again but she did not react. "We need to get close enough to disable him, and giving him time to fire his weapons is a bad idea."

"None of Advent's ships could get close." The Sectoid rose and retreated a step. "The Lady's?" She asked Cooper.

"They have offered, but she would rather not throw them into a fight we have no idea if we can win." Cooper allowed, only to pause as Alley scoffed. "Alley?"

"First rule of winning in combat, Doctor." Alley said firmly enough that everyone stared at her, even Mina. "Don't fight the enemy on _his_ terms. Fight on _yours_. I can get a pilot close enough to disable this guy. But we need him _alive_ to find out where he came from and if more are coming."

"That is wise." The Sectoid admitted. "So… What do you have in mind?"

"He attacks aliens." Alley's smile was both wide and vicious. "What say we _don't_ show him aliens?"

"Alley?" Doctor Cooper inquired carefully as everyone stared at the Viper, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He is hate. Let's counter hate with its opposite."

* * *

36 hours later, 1201AM GMT December 25 2037

Samuel Rogers was tired. The ship he was flying hadn't been designed for week long seating and he really needed the facilities. One more sweep for X-ray ships and he could return to base. His short range sensors pinged and he stared at them. A small blip had appeared on his screen, flying low and slow across Earth's upper atmosphere, but it wasn't anything in his database. Nothing X-ray or human made. Whatever it was didn't seem to be armed, so he swept in for a closer look only to freeze totally solid in his seat as an image appeared on his screen, projected from the powerful telescope in the nose of his ship.

Eight furred animals pulled a red sleigh across the sky, but that paled beside the human male sitting in the driver's seat. _The big man in the red suit _looked right at him through the screen and Santa Claus' face was sad.

"Someone has been naughty."


	11. Chapter 11

**PCM (Psionic Counter Measures)**

Samuel stared at his screen and felt the bottom of his jaw hit the inside of his sealed flight helmet. The X-Com pilot had seen a lot of stuff both good and bad in his organization's wars with the X-Rays, but _this…_

"Um..." The pilot managed as one of the most commercialized secularized Christian saints eyed him. Santa Claus! That wasn't possible! Leaving aside his craft, antique wooden sleigh with bells and all, the red suit the man wore wasn't a space suit! There wasn't enough air up here to _breathe_, let alone convey words, but the pilot had heard them aloud. Not in his mind. "What?" He managed to sputter.

"You know who I am. I am all about naughty and nice and you have _not_ been nice." Santa replied with shake of his head. "Expect some coal in your stocking, young man." One of what had to be reindeer stamped a foot on nothingness and yes, the deer's nose _was_ starting to glow! "Yes, Rudolph, I know we are falling behind schedule. This should only take a moment." Santa spoke to the reindeer as if that were perfectly normal. He turned back to Samuel and his face was stern now. "If you don't mind, soldier, I have a lot of places to go tonight. I have a lot of deliveries to make." He waved at the back of his sleigh that was packed with bundles just like in so many stories.

"You are going nowhere!" Samuel snapped as he activated his tractor beam. It had never failed him before, always grabbing whatever he wanted held and bringing it close enough shoot or pull to base. But this time, there was nothing the computer could lock onto. Without a lock, his missiles would not fire. He was out of unguided rockets after his last attack run.

"Actually, yes." Santa replied with a mischievous smile. "I am going but somewhere, not nowhere. Ta ta!"

He waved at the reindeer and they took off running. Samuel armed his weapons, but suddenly whatever this apparition was, it was well out of range. He hit his afterburner, but still, the sleigh pulled away. As fast as his ship was? This weird thing was faster!

"That is not possible!" Samuel snarled as the odd thing dwindled to a point of light and then was _gone_. It hadn't gone faster than light, it had just vanished! Then he stilled as he turned his head to the side and saw a fresh impossibility on the side of his cockpit. A brightly striped ancient looking _sock_ -no, a stocking! - was hanging from a set of switches! It had a single bulge at the bottom that looked like a rock! He stared at it and then snarled. It hadn't been there a moment before. "Nice try, X-ray! Whatever you are! Mind tricks won't work on me!" He reached out with his mind but there was nothing there. He grabbed at it and it was physical! "How the hell..." He intoned as he stared at the green and red cloth thing. Then he stiffened. Whatever that had been, it had seen him. Likely whatever mind had projected that could-

The stocking flashed and he was elsewhere.

The room was odd. Samuel Rogers had been a lot of places after he had joined X-Com, most of which he wanted to forget. But this place was familiar. Strange. The room was not large, but it felt that way. He never been here that he knew of, but the carpeted floor felt right to his senses. The desks that were far too small for his stature were also wrong, but felt right. The posters on the walls also were both wrong and right. Then his confusion turned to fear. He wasn't in his flight suit! He had no weapons! This was clearly a mental place of some kind, but he felt no power and when he tried to get angry, it wouldn't come.

"There is no need for anger here." A very young sounding female voice sounded and a girl appeared nearby. Her face was ashen under her dark brown hair. He didn't know her. Did he? "We can't hurt or kill you here no matter how much we may want to." She looked him in the eyes and blanched. "Wait? _Sam?_"

He stared at her and snarled. She wasn't human no matter _what_ she looked like. He couldn't pull his power up, but he could-

He was reaching for her to grab her and _shake_ answers from her when something went 'flick' nearby and something else wrapped around his body, slamming his arms to his sides. Then he was flying. Despite his reflexive brace, he landed badly and could not resist as hard things coiled around him. He stared down as he struggled in huge snake like coils.

"None of _that_, young man!" A familiar voice this time. He had heard it before, but only in his mind. He stared up into horror as the snake woman who held him in her coils scrutinized him. "Mina?" She asked as he struggled fruitlessly to free himself. With no leverage or tools, he had no chance. "This is not what I expected."

"He looks like _Sam_." The girl said weakly. "He has Sam's face. But that is impossible!" Her face hardened. "He _killed_ Sam!"

"Don't let your anger win, Mina." The snake said calmly. She puffed a breath at her captive's face and Samuel felt his strength fade. Why wasn't his power aiding him here? The snake wasn't angry. If anything? She was curious! "We have time, if not an infinite amount." She focused on Samuel. "There are several players in this. You? My name is Alley. What is yours?"

"I will tell you nothing, X-Ray!" Samuel spit the words out, but something touched his mind and he recoiled as the incredibly deft touch reached in and pulled out information. He fought, but he was outmatched, the touch was one he remembered.

"His name is Samuel Rogers." Same voice. Male. Firm. The he paused. "Or at least, that is what I get. X-Com, but not anything to do with us. This is odd. I need time to parse it all. But... I am not reading anything more than a few days old." Now _he_ sounded confused. "That doesn't make any sense. He has memories from far before that, but none of his mind that I can sense is more than a few days old. Those memories are real, they are too detailed to be faked or implanted."

"Well, that is understandable, sort of, because I just finished my own perusal and his body is less than a week old." Alley replied.

"That is not possible." Mina and the male speaker both said as one and the girl made a face. Samuel might have been amused if he hadn't been so angry.

"Who is to say what evil the Elders could and could not do?" The male sounded resigned as the voice approached. Samuel went still as a human stepped into his view. This one in a familiar uniform. X-Com! The black skull mask he wore was definitely not regulation. "Well, Samuel Rogers, if you haven't guessed by now? You are in deep shit."

"Syndrome. Language." Alley said mildly but the masked man nodded to her and gave the girl a small bow.

"Sorry." Syndrome said with a shrug. "This is weird, Ma'am. It is also dangerous. He is an incredibly powerful ball of rage. This environment won't hold him for long." He warned. "Better to strike now and end this, Ma'am." Samuel tensed, but something wafted through him again and he relaxed against his will. How were they drugging him if this was all in the mind?

"Defaulting to violence is the way _I_ would have gone too, once upon a time." Alley replied, not quite a rebuke. "But no. We need to know more and if _he_ doesn't know, then we need to find out who _does_." Samuel felt odd, what was happening to him? "We go with the plan. Catch, tag and release."

"What are you doing?" Samuel tried to snarl that, but it came out almost a whimper. The reply came from far away.

"Letting you wake up."

Samuel Rogers snapped awake in his cockpit, staring around wildly, but there was nothing there. He had dozed off! He had dreamed, but it hadn't made sense. A girl? A man in a black mask? A- The dream faded along with his desire to know what had happened as his situation dawned. He had been sitting without thrust in mid-space for a while. He was a sitting duck. However long he had dozed, it had been long enough for his orbit to approach orbital wreckage. He wasn't going to impact, but it was close enough he altered course just to be sure. You only generally got one mistake in outer space. That said? He was curious about the wreckage. It was clearly of human design, that was clear from the two huge arrays of solar panels and several modules that made it up, but the solar panels had been blasted to ruin and each of the modules had holes in it that proclaimed the fate of whoever had been aboard when the X-Rays had come. They had no mercy for any human, peaceful or no. So, he had none for _them_.

His warning indicators lit off with tones sounding in his helmet as four missiles approached from far below. Clearly of X-Ray origin, they were far faster than anything humans on this planet had made. That said? Slower than his ship. He spun in two axis and thrust away from the wreckage, leaving the alien missiles in his dust. Part of him was tempted to turn and shoot them down, but the rest of him needed the facilities. As he activated his supralight drive, he snarled to himself.

He would be back. Earth would be free.

* * *

(Not too close, but not too far away)

Alley watched with her peers as the ship flashed away from the Advent missiles. Said missiles self destructed when their quarry escaped. The Sectoid and X-Com psi did not trust one another at all, but they had worked well with Alley and Mina to trap the man and find out what little information they had. That said? Their were limits and twenty years of war was not going to be erased quickly, if at all. Alley had proposed this, knowing the dangers and no one had quibbled. Much. She did have safeguards in place, but then again, so did the others.

"If he is working under any reasonable sense of operation security, he will make at least one more jump." Alley said after a moment of holding Mina who was fighting not to cry. "To throw off any pursuit. I would do more than one if I were in his position."

"Agreed." Syndrome shook his head as he looked around the small alien ship their somewhat dubious allies had managed to 'borrow' from an isolated Advent depot. Advent didn't know about that yet and if Alley had her way? They wouldn't. It was barely large enough for the Viper, the two humans and the Sectoid along with a Sectoid pilot. She didn't ask how the Sectoids had procured it so fast and she would not. They had told her where it had come from and Alley had asked her clan leader to help cover up the theft. Knowing Oshina? There would be explosions involved. She would have preferred to use their Hammerhead ship but it was occupied, ferrying Jane to her mission. That it had a psionic cloaking device that was pure Elder tech had been the whole reason they had taken it. None of the group had known if the cloak would work. Hence why none of them had delegated this dangerous task. Syndrome shook his head again. "You know Jane will hurt me for letting you talk me into this, right?"

"She will be angry, yes." Alley agreed. "She may thrash us both, but she will understand. Mina... It is okay." She reassured the all but crying girl.

"No, it's not! That was Sam, but it wasn't!" Mina valiantly tried to stop her tears, but they came anyway. "He knew me, but he didn't! That isn't possible! He was _old!_ We don't _get_ old!"

Alley looked at Syndrome who looked at the Sectoid who was not piloting the ship. She shrugged. Not that 'she' was really a good descriptor for a genderless being, except that she was kind and nurturing, a good mother figure and very kind to Mina despite Mina's clear distrust of anything to do with Advent. No one blamed the girl at all.

_W__e__ do not know all of what was done to M__ina and her siblings __any more than __we__ know all of what was done to your nest, Matron. __Advent was all about compartmentalizing information. _ The Sectoid said into their minds. _What w__e _**do**_ know fills u__s__ with rage and shame._ _What w__e__ did was bad enough._ _W__e__ had no choice, but to serve. __To fight for the Elders. __None of us had a choice, but Advent was evil. W__e__ can say that now. It _**is**_ evil if we let it be. We must not. __We must discover what was done, how it was done and stop it. That said? We do not understand what is happening._

"Several players are pushing this. If the Warlock _was_ involved, then there are very few limits to what could have been done with psi powers." Syndrome had a frown in his voice "That said, he is dead." That was firm. Everyone else looked at him and he shrugged. "I was there. He is dead. It took several times killing him, but he _stayed_ dead the last time. We waited half a day in that creepy place just to be sure."

_Well done._ Came from the Sectoid and Syndrome looked at her. _He was a monster. He had few, if any, redeeming qualities. He was all about power._

"I know. I met him once in passing and even that brief contact left scars in my mind that were slow to heal." Alley shook her head. "Psionic power can do a lot, but it cannot reconstitute a dead being after so long. Can it?" She asked the Sectoid.

_We do not know. There are as many layers to psionic ability as there are psis who use it._ The Sectoid seemed to wilt. _We__ are not even close to the Warlock's level of power, but he tapped things that are better left alone. Things even the Elders refused to touch.  
_

"Things that do not appreciate being tapped." Syndrome agreed, manifestly against his will. "Jenni said the same when she blew his stasis crypt crystal thing to hell."

"Jenni was there?" Alley asked, sudden confusion rising.

"Yes. Jenni was the first documented X-Com psi. She left us all in her dust." Syndrome had a sad smile in his voice now. "She was incredibly powerful, but focused. At least..." He bowed his head. "She was focused _after_ she met Jane. Before that? She was..." He paused and looked at Mina before continuing. "...very dangerous to be around. She wasn't trained, you see. She did it all by instinct at first."

"Untrained?" Alley asked, tensing. Syndrome nodded. "Oh dear." The Sectoid had also tensed.

Just the thought of an incredibly powerful, untrained psionic was bad. A human fighting a war? Worse. Regular psis could do things that literally boggled the mind, but they knew their limits. Without training? They wouldn't know that and would do far worse, to enemies _and_ to themselves. Collateral damage would have been significant.

"She was very angry when she came to us, but she was always focused." Syndrome was lost in memory now. "She lost a great deal and it hurt her very badly. She didn't even know she was a psi at first. No one did." He shook his head. "She made sure that after she and Jane figured that out? Everyone was tested. I was found in that first screening and the rest, as they say, is history."

"How did she figure that out? What happened?" Mina asked, curiosity pushing past her grief.

"Ask Jane sometime. I think she will tell _you_." Syndrome said very quietly. "I have no right to breach her privacy and less _desire_ to." He gave an exaggerated shudder. "She is going to be mad enough as it it is about this." He waved a hand at the ship they were in and Mina nodded.

"Let her blame me, it was my idea." Alley replied as she held Mina as gently as she could and the girl relaxed. "We have more information, but it makes no sense. We need context for this information."

_We should be able to get more information on what was done to the children who became Mina's siblings._ The Sectoid gave Mina a small bow. _What was his name? Sam?_

"I just knew him as Sam." Mina said weakly. "My older brother."

"We, X-Com, think his name was Samuel Pikerson." Syndrome said into the silence that fell. "We are not sure. There are not a lot of records, but a group of humans said he resembled someone's child they knew. Unfortunately, the woman and the rest of her family did not survive."

_It was an Advent operation. There will be records _somewhere_._ The Sectoid replied. _We have access to most Advent records centers. This current situation is not Advent's doing __and this is not an enemy we can fight__. This __i__s an emergency __so we __can ask for emergency authorization to access almost data files, even ones from so long ago. _She looked at Mina. _If we find anything, we will let you know, child. For child you are. You were never allowed to grow up. Such a horror defiles us all, all of us who are mortal._

"I think that is why we want to fly so badly." Mina choked the words out. "For the chance to die. We know we won't otherwise."

"Mina." Alley reassured the girl with both touch and thought. "It is all right. Now that I know about this… this _travesty_, once the immediate threat is gone, I will focus on it. I _will_ find a way to help you. It may take time, but I have time. Right now?" She smiled as Mina focused herself.

"Right now, we need to figure out what is going on." Mina agreed. She made a face. "And my sister Maya wants us to come back before the traces get too close." Alley and Syndrome looked at her and then at the Sectoid who shrugged.

_You cannot blame us for trying._ The Sectoid was almost prim. _We know nothing about this enemy except that Mina apparently knows him. She may know more. We would strive hard not to harm her. We hope to have non-violent discussions, but we _**must **_have other options as well. Trust will not happen quickly if at all._

"That…. Is a good point." Alley sighed and shook her head. "And… you were ordered, weren't you? He found out, didn't he?" There was only _one_ being who could order the Sectoids to obey and they had to obey, literally _had to_. The Sectoid did not react and Alley groaned. "_And..._ Of course. He ordered you not to speak of it. Damn that Speaker."

_And you chastise the human psi for _**his **_language?_ Was the Sectoid mocking her?

"Decorum is a work in progress for me. I am much better than I was." Alley replied as she cut the psionic connection and she, Syndrome and Mina all vanished from the alien spacecraft. They had never physically been there, the danger had been to their minds. No less dangerous for all that. The Sectoid shook her head as she moved to stand near the holographic display of Earth that appeared. A barely visible dot flickered and went out even as it moved into the Asian continent from the Pacific ocean. Trace lost completely.

_W__e__ warned you. Trying to trick the Matron is a _bad _idea._ The Sectoid said mildly as the holo shimmered and reformed into a large sized head of the Advent Speaker. _Trying to _**trap**_ her? A worse one._ _We are not going to overpower or out-sneak that being. Not alone and certainly not surrounded by her allies._

"That girl knows something." The leader of what remained of Advent snapped. "Find her and bring her. We still need Alley as well."

_Do you have _**any**_ idea the level of bad that will occur if we attack them? Especially now if she _**has**_ bonded to an X-Com warrior? X-Com or Oshina, the result will be the same._ The Sectoid inquired. _W__hat good do more slaves do you__ if we all get killed?_

"You will bring me Alley and the girl. Alive and intact." The Speaker snapped and his holo cut off.

Not for the first time in her long, painful life, the Sectoid wished the Elders had left her kind the ability to curse.


	12. Chapter 12

**Beyond visual range**

Alley moaned softly as she gave her whole body a careful shake. She had been lying on the bed for quite a while. Mina slept beside her and Alley tensed as the poor girl's face suddenly scrunched in terror. Alley didn't move anything except an arm to lay a hand against Mina's cheek as Mina moaned in fear. Mina was asleep, but her sleep was troubled. She was having a nightmare. Entering Mina's mind was an invasion of privacy, but Alley had other options. A quick flip of Alley's molecular powers, a very careful change of certain electrolytes in the girl's body and Mina relaxed, her face softening as the nightmare faded with minor pain that had caused it. Alley made sure Mina was comfortable before she looked up at Syndrome who smiled at her, his mask fallen to the side. He had been sitting in a chair beside the bed, having drawn the line at sharing the bed with them.

"Thank you. Her nightmares would give anyone pause." Without his mask, Syndrome looked almost normal for a human. Well, except for the lavender energy that coruscated through his eyes and the white hair.

"You care for her." Alley wasn't sure how she felt about all of this. The Elders had hurt so many, her nest, Mina's compatriots, others… She was angry of course, only a sociopath wouldn't be at such a violation done to children. Beyond that? She had no idea how she felt but she knew one thing. She knew she was going to help these kids. She just had no idea how. "I can see why. She is a good kid."

"Most of the time." Syndrome corrected her, but he was still smiling fondly at Mina as Alley reared slowly up. "She is a kid. She is not perfect, far from it. She may be older that she looks, but she is still a kid. She was never given the chance to grow up while in Advent's hellish 'care' and now?" He shrugged as Alley looked at the slumbering waif. "She and her siblings went through a different kind hell just before we met her." Alley hissed softly but Syndrome just smiled a bit grimly. "The one responsible ran afoul of Jane and regretted it."

"I don't want to know, do I?" Alley asked as she gently cradled Mina in her arms, lifting the slumbering girl easily.

"You know the basics." Syndrome scoffed and rose, starting for the door to the room they had laid down in to start this insane communication. He pulled his mask into place as he walked. "Don't make Jane mad. He did."

"Good riddance. Mina is far stronger than she looks, but she is still so fragile." Alley shook her head as she slid off the bed, careful not to jar her burden. She followed the human psi. "Does she sleep with the others?"

"She has a bunk with her sister." Syndrome's face was closed now. "You haven't met Maya yet. There hasn't been time." He made a soft noise, almost a groan. "Add to that? You have had a number of shocks. We wanted to, but Maya said it could wait."

"I am not going to like this either, am I?" Alley asked as Syndrome led the way through drab halls that were made slightly less so by a few pieces of art. Some of said art was childish, others were very well done. No matter the materials used, be it crayon or high quality oils, Alley could see the care and discipline that it had taken to make the pictures. She paused at one that depicted a Viper. Syndrome stopped when she did and bowed his head. Alley looked and several of the art pieces showed the same Viper. Alley slowly shook her head to keep from disturbing her burden. "I wondered at the name 'Slither' on the memorial wall, but I wasn't going to ask. It wasn't my place."

Seeing a non-human name on a human memorial wall in the X-Com mobile base had been a bit jarring but she had been distracted by other things. Things like that crazy Lizbeth woman trying to kill her.

"Advent gave the kids' nurturer a Viper egg to educate alongside them. Everyone thinks it was an attempt to socialize them to non-humans and if so? It worked. To them, she was a peer, a friend. She died fighting an Advent scouting team while we were trying to rescue the kids. She saved two of us from Advent and the second time cost her life." Syndrome sounded calm, but she could feel just a little of his mind and sorrow lurked. That had to be intentional, as well controlled as he was. "She did not hesitate. She was brave."

"It is easy to be brave when you have so little to lose." Alley did not jump as Jian stepped out of a doorway nearby. There were no guards around her now. Odd. Jian looked at the art and then at Alley. Her face was blank but she too exuded just a hint of sorrow. "Or when you feel you do."

"We need to talk." Alley said slowly as Syndrome and Jian looked at one another. "Carefully and securely. Is there anywhere on this base we can do that?"

"Yes, Matron." Jian bowed to Alley. "The room where Mina sleeps can be secured."

"If you harm these children or place them in any further danger, I will kill you." Alley stiffened at Syndrome's cold words. "That is far kinder and gentler than what _Jane_ will do."

"I know. The danger is not of my own doing." Jian replied, still calm. "I am a warning, not a threat. Not to you and certainly not to _them_."

"To Alley?" Syndrome demanded.

"Don't wake Mina." Alley commanded as the girl in her arms shifted a bit. She rocked Mina just a little and the girl subsided. "You know I am in danger all the time now, Syndrome. You know why."

"Advent would love to tear you apart to figure out how you can do what you do. To gain any advantage now that the Elders are gone." Syndrome said after a moment of glaring at Jian. "Physically, or mentally, it would make little difference. You would cease to be who you are." He shuddered. "And then _Jane_ would flip right out."

"Not if I can help it." Alley reassured him. "I know she had been talking to Milodi and Amadri. Does X-Com have mental health professionals?" She paused as both Jian and Syndrome shook their heads in unison. "What?"

"We do." Syndrome's voice was desert dry now. "They won't talk to Jane."

"Why not?" Alley demanded and then stilled, checking Mina, but the girl slept on.

"Uhh..." Syndrome slowly shook his head. "After her incarceration, they tried to help her. It um… It didn't work out so well." His voice spoke of profound understatement. "They tried lots of stuff. Not much of it worked. The only thing that did was dream therapy. She was better, but not much, so they tried stronger methods and that backfired. Badly."

"Tell me she didn't kill anybody!" Alley all but begged.

"She didn't." This time Syndrome reassured _her_. "That said? Any one of us could have told them that pushing Jane the way they tried was a bad idea. They tried to get her to face something she was not ready to face and she reacted in her usual understated fashion." Alley stared at him in horror and he shrugged. "No one died. Barely." He qualified. "She tore the office she was in to pieces and broke the psychologist's arm in three places. He was, by _everyone's_ account, a complete idiot."

"I think I heard that story. Shockton?" Jian inquired, her own face a grim smile.

"Shockton." Syndrome agreed, a matching smile in his voice.

"And they won't help her because an idiot pushed her into losing her temper?" Alley demanded that, but softly so as not to disturb the girl in her arms. Outrage for Jane sang in her quiet tone.

"No." Syndrome sighed deeply. "They won't help her because Jane swore she would tear any X-Com personnel who tried to do that to her again into _very_ small pieces." He shook his head. "She will too. There are places in anyone's psyche that are bad to poke. Jane Kelly has more of them than anyone else I know, but we all have our big, red buttons that are very unwise to push." Alley stared at him and then thought about that. Her hidden partner agreed with a silent pulse of worry for both Alley and Jane.

"That we do." Alley said softly after a moment's thought. Then she sighed just as deeply as he had. "This bonding may not have been entirely our choice, but I think it will help both of us. We are both hurting and dangerous. We understand and respect one another. There are worse places to start."

"And unlike the previous bonding you had, Matron, this one will not kill your partner and everyone around your partner if you are separated." Jian said very quietly. Alley went totally still and Jian frowned. "Well, except if said separation is not by your choice. In which case? I _pity_ whoever tries." Her smile was pure vicious now and Alley shook her head. _That_ was pure Jane Kelly.

"Your sense of humor is familiar." Alley said very quietly. "You have said things and done things that make no sense. You have said I should not trust you. So… Why are you here?" Syndrome looked at Alley and stiffened at whatever he saw in her eyes or sensed in her.

"Not here, Matron." Jian started off.

Alley looked at Syndrome who shrugged and waited for her to move. She did, still careful with Mina's sleeping form. Every sense was on hyper alert as Jian led her into a larger room. One that was clearly a young girl's sleeping area from the various bits of art and a doll that lay on the bed. No, it wasn't a doll. It was an action figure of some kind! A big one, easily a foot high. Alley had to smile at that, but she wasn't really surprised. More intrigued. She knew Mina wasn't normal and this was simply another bit. No normal little girl would have an _armored warrior_ as a doll. This one was odd, but also oddly familiar to Alley. From somewhere. The doll was female, had red hair and wore yellow gloves, a yellow armor vest and yellow armored boots over a dark blue bodysuit. It was a character from something human, she was sure of that, but what? She had seen so many human things with her nest while growing that many of the memories blurred.

"Don't touch that." Jian warned as Alley made ready to lay Mina on the bed. The doll was in the way, so she was prepared to move the doll. "It is trapped."

"What?" Alley asked as she all but yanked Mina away from the bed. She was careful not to wake the girl.

"Mina always traps her bed while she is gone." Came a young female voice from nowhere and Alley spun, her mental shields coming alive to surround both her and Mina as Syndrome shook his head. "Is it paranoia if people are out to get us?" The other girl asked. But Alley could not sense anyone nearby. "Miss Alley, I am sorry for startling you, but Mina would not like it if her trap hurt you. It is unlikely to hurt you badly, but it would hurt you."

"Since neither of you are reacting..." Alley said very slowly as she looked from Syndrome to Jian and back "And you said that Mina slept with her sister _Maya_, Syndrome, I am going to assume that I am speaking to Maya." Syndrome nodded.

"Be careful assuming things, Ma'am." Butter might not have melted in the girl's mouth. "You know what happens."

"I do." Alley smiled and relaxed, her shields returning to standby readiness. "It generally makes an 'ass' out of yo'u' and 'me'." She looked at Mina who was still sleeping. "Mina would be more comfortable in her bed. Can I place her beside her… Her figure?"

"It won't hurt her." Maya reassured Alley. "It helps. I have one of my own, but I cannot touch it as I am."

"This toy is familiar." Alley said as she carefully laid Mina down on the bed beside the toy. She stared as Mina rolled, scooping the thing up and psionic energy flared, but Mina smiled and sank into a deep, untroubled sleep. "Not sure from where or when, but familiar."

"We needed all the help we could get." Maya was sad now. "Miss Alley, you can step back but please do not go far. I am going to activate a dampener on the room. It will shield everything in the room from detection."

Alley stared at Jian and Syndrome, both of whom stepped further in and stood ready.

"And… how do you have this?" Alley inquired, not moving. The world shimmered golden to her sight and she went totally still as the wall opened and Elizabeth appeared, sitting in a chair beside an upright tube filled with some kind of blue fluid. In that tube, a young girl floated. She looked almost exactly like Mina, except that her skull was bandaged. Alley shook her head. She was glowing softly golden and so was Mina! "Never mind. I should have known."

"Don't blame Maya." Elizabeth did not move as Syndrome cursed and his psionic amplifier appeared in his hand, glowing. Jian did not move at all. "Feel free to blame me. In the end? Most of this is my responsibility."

Alley stared at the seated woman, then at the tube. Then at the girl on the bed. Then she looked at Jian who bowed her head.

"You are not from around here." Alley said quietly. "Is that why the Lady dislikes you so much?"

"Some." Elizabeth allowed, not moving at all. "Contrary to what some may think, Lizbeth is not me and I am not her. We are connected in several ways, but we are different people." Alley glared at her and Elizabeth sighed. "Yes. I did and do things that the Lady dislikes. I pushed you and Jane Kelly together. You need each other. The Lady will be very upset that I have contacted you this way, but I see no other options with a favorable outcome. I have spent a great deal of time trying to undo several messes that my family created. My _dear father_ in particular." Hate sang in her tone, but she squelched it. "Lizbeth is the result of one of those messes."

"What?" Syndrome demanded. "Is she a clone?"

"Nothing so simple." Elizabeth replied. "She _was_ me as I was when I was a child, but then she grew up here. She was seeking something here that was later determined not to be here at all. Once that was determined, she was left here. She had a life of her own and simply upending her was deemed unfair. In retrospect? We should have paid closer attention." She shook her head. "She is not me, thank god, but she has her own power."

"Why is she attacking me?" Alley asked. She was keyed up, ready to fight or flee, but Elizabeth was not hostile.

"Technically, she is not." Elizabeth replied. "She is attacking _another_ through you." Alley went totally still as a stab of fear came from her passenger. She soothed Easer the best she could. "She wants Jane Kelly. You, she will use, alive or dead, but Jane Kelly, she wants alive." Something in the woman's tone had Alley blinking. What was that tone? Rage? Regret? "And no, not for anything good."

"You are not a psi." Syndrome grated out.

"No." Elizabeth agreed. "But I have lived with a lot of people who had various powers of the mind." She shrugged. "Anyone observant will learn things."

"Elizabeth, enough." Jian snapped. "We will stop her _and_ him."

"I don't want her dead." Elizabeth shook her head. "In many ways, she is my sister. I cannot let you kill her." She laid a hand on the tube with the girl in it and Jian went totally still.

"Take your hand _off_ Maya's tube." Jian's voice was flat now and her hand was on the odd weapon at her back. "Now."

It was suddenly easy to see that she was related to Jane somehow. The sheer menace she projected, she _had_ to have learned from Jane. No one else did it quite so well, not even aliens in Alley's experience.

"Rule 2 doesn't apply, Jian." Elizabeth said quietly. "You know I will not harm them. I will protect them. I have some resources now. I can help them. Lizbeth is blinded by her rage at what happened to her, but she is not evil. I can help her too, I just need to-" Alley had heard enough and acted. "What? NO!"

Too late. Alley's long Viper tongue lashed out, slamming Elizabeth away from the tube with bone crushing force, but what happened next was not what the non-human expected. Jian screamed as Elizabeth started to glow golden and so did Alley! Nothing hurt, but Jian was glowing a dark green as Alley felt two small sets of hands on her and-

She was elsewhere. Somewhere very strange. The walls and floor were carved stone, ancient looking and feeling. As she looked around, Alley couldn't see any doors, windows or any other portals. The room wasn't oppressive, far from it. It felt almost comforting?

Just as suddenly as she had arrived, Alley was surrounded by forms out of nightmare. A few seemed human in shape, but others were nothing even close. All of them seemed just as startled by Alley's arrival here as she was. Alley reacted on instinct. She coiled up and hissed, her head up and hood flaring! Everyone stepped back. They might not know what a Viper was, but they _had_ to know 'angry snake' when they heard it. Didn't they?

"Oh, shit. Alley. Of all the..." Alley stilled again when Elizabeth appeared nearby but _this_ Elizabeth was very different. Older, sadder and she wore a crown that started to glow! Was she bleeding? The woman shook her head. "I can fix this, just… Give me a moment, Alley. I can _fix_ this."

A moment she wasn't given.

"LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!" Jian appeared beside Alley, her staff in hand. But _this_ woman was also very different. She was anything but calm now. Her armor was glowing green and so was her weapon!

"_Mom?_" Everything stopped at Alley's sudden hushed word.


	13. Chapter 13

**Return to base**

"Mom."

Alley's soft, incredulous repeat of her word was the only sound in the entire area as everyone focused on Jian. The armored woman stood beside the snake woman, her staff held ready. Alley slowly shook her head and her hood retracted a little.

"Jian, can you get me out of here? We need to talk." Alley said very quietly as two of the beings around the odd pair started to glow.

"I can, but only if they do not try to stop us. And… We do." Jian did not take her eyes off the woman with the crown. "You will let us leave." Not a question. A statement of fact. A promise of mayhem.

"I can't do that. Not until I have your word not to interfere." Elizabeth said sadly. "I know you and Alley will want to do what you think is right, but… I also know that both of you will do what you feel is needed. I can't let you kill Lizbeth, Jian."

"I don't know what Alley is going to do. I certainly didn't expect _this_ any more than I expected _you_ to take Mina and Maya hostage." Jian smirked but it held little humor as everyone else stared at Elizabeth. "Taking hostages was always bad idea around her. Taking _children_ or people who look like children hostage? Worse." She slowly shook her head, but her gaze and staff did not waver. "One thing I _do_ know? If you try to hold Alley or alter her, she will act and you will _not_ like what happens even before _I_ get carte blanche to act."

That was calm, clear and concise. Also pure _threat_. Alley focused herself and her powers and slowly, every so slowly, expanded her hood again. When she readied her toxin spit, she focused on making sure it was the most virulent she could make. It sizzled in her mouth. Far more potent than usual.

"No!" Elizabeth held up empty hands in a warding gesture. "Alley! We are not enemies!"

"Could have fooled me." Jian said as everyone shifted back. For all the good that would do against Alley's toxins. Most _nerve gasses_ would be less toxic that such supremely enhanced Viper venom. "You. Will. Let. Us. Go. Now."

"We don't want to fight you, Jian." Elizabeth begged. "You _or_ Alley! We want to save Lizbeth!"

"Fuck you!" Jian snapped, her staff glowing brighter. "They all told me you couldn't be trusted, but I had no choice if I wanted to help Alley. So, I trusted, but not fully. You violated what trust I gave you when you tried to make off with Maya. Let us go, or this is going to get very bad, very fast. Choose, _Empress!_" Alley all but staggered at that. Elizabeth was an Empress? "_Now!_"

"I..." Elizabeth seemed to wilt. "I am sorry." She said in very small voice. "I wouldn't have hurt them. You know I wouldn't have hurt them. Not after-"

"_Shut up!_" Jian's cold, hard scream of rage was pure Jane Kelly. "Even Alley cannot hold _that_ for long. Make your choice, Empress. Live or die. I don't care anymore!" Something in her voice spoke of raw loss, pain, rage and fear that was so familiar that Alley extended a hand and laid it on Jian's left arm. Jian didn't move, didn't seem to blink. The Viper couldn't speak with the toxin in her mouth without releasing it, but Alley sent what comfort she could. Jian choked a sob. "You are still so much better than me, Matron!"

_It is all right, Jian._ Alley sent to the other. _You do not stand alone. _The gaze she turned on Elizabeth had the crowned woman actually take a step back. There was really only one thing to do. She spit at Elizabeth's feet and more than one person screamed, but it sizzled and then turned into a puddle of acidic ooze as Alley's power worked on it. Her mouth hurt, she ignored it. "She is trying to save her sister, Jian."

"Matron, no!" Jian begged as Alley slowly pushed her arm, and the weapon she held, down.

"Jane never taught you about when _not_ to fight, did she?" Alley inquired sadly as she moved to coil around Jian who did not move. Not to restrain, to comfort.

"She tried, but I am not a good student when it comes to such. She didn't have time to pound it properly into my head." Jian said sadly. "Matron, please… Don't trust them!" She begged.

"No one said anything about trust." Alley promised. "That acid is going to react in about a minute or so with the oxygen in this room." Everyone stilled as Alley continued and Jian smiled _wide_. "Said reaction will turn everything organic in this room into ash. A raging firestorm. That may or may not kill someone as powerful as Elizabeth has proven to be, but it won't tickle. It _will_ kill _me _if they do not let me go." She smiled as only a Viper could at Elizabeth's sudden blank face. "Feel free to try and neutralize it. You won't like what happens." The world seemed to blink, but nothing changed. Or, nothing but Elizabeth's suddenly strained face.

"You wanted the ability to speak." Elizabeth said softly. "I… I see. _How_ many ways have you trapped that substance?" She asked, incredulous.

"Wouldn't you love to know?" Alley asked. "You now have about thirty seconds." The world blinked again but nothing changed until Alley saw a trickle of blood fall from Elizabeth's nose.

"Go." Elizabeth slumped, defeated. "I… The only way to stop you is to kill you and I refuse to do that. You are one of the few lights left in that world, Matron Alley. I am not your enemy. I hope to talk, someday. To explain. To prove it to you."

"Maybe someday." Alley replied as a green glow built around Jian and her. "But not today."

"Brace yourself, Matron." Jian said very quietly. "Where we are going… You are no danger at all, but it will be a shock."

Just like that, Jian stood in a hangar. Such a facility was always fairly easy to recognize even without the two aircraft that were housed within it. Both were painted a dark shade of blue. The tiny one man helicopter was dwarfed by the three engine jet with the gun turret on top. But Alley knew them both. Knew them _well_. She recognized the symbol on both of the aircraft and saw it everywhere once she looked. Walls, floor, ceiling, everywhere. It was a red snake and not just _any_ snake!

"Um… Jian…?" Alley asked as she uncoiled and Jian returned her staff to her back. "Where are we?"

"Mega-Primus. Home." Jian said with a sigh. "Not how I wanted to come back, but..." She shrugged. "Better than I hoped." She smiled at Alley. "Welcome home, Matron."

Alley stared at her and then froze as a huge door swiveled open. Outside was a skyline, all of it dominated by skyscrapers that each had the _same_ symbol on them! It was what was drawn up outside the hangar that had her stilling. At least a battalion of armed troops stood in formation, most of them in the same uniform. All of those wore blue. Blue uniforms, blue combat helmets, darker blue harnesses with combat gear! The only color differences were the black knee pads, black masks that covered their lower faces and the same red insignia on each soldier's chest and shoulders.

As Alley stared, she saw other, clearly more specialized troops also standing at attention. Some wore heavy armor, other had tech gear of various kinds, and a small group wore flightsuits. All with the same insignia. Behind them were all kinds of vehicles also with the same insignia. Jian raised her left hand to the sky and clenched a fist. As one, every assembled soldier also threw a fist to the sky, thankfully, the _left_ fist and shouted with Jian.

"_COBRA!_"

Again, in unison every one of them, including Jian, brought their fists down to slap against their right breasts, saluting Alley who stared at them, wide eyed. A large scar faced man with an eyepatch over his left eye stepped forward, his sole eye on Alley, but he turned to salute Jian. His armor was different. He sported the same insignia, but his right arm was clearly prosthetic. His helmet too, had a point that came down slightly between his eyes. He saluted Jian.

"Welcome back, Commander." The man was from Australia, that was clear to Alley, but nothing else was. "Things did not go as planned?"

"No." Jian frowned at Alley before turning to the man. "What is the situation, Major?"

"Calm, for now." The Major clearly did not think that would last. "No dimensional rifts have formed since you left. The enemy has probed for weaknesses, but there have not been any incursions."

"Or very subtle ones." Jian mused and the Major nodded. "Anything from the Cult of Sirius?"

"No, ma'am." The Major replied. "And yes, Ma'am, that bothers me too. I have several recon teams investigating with backup ready."

"I won't tell you your job, Major." Jian reassured him. "We have larger concerns as you can see." She looked at Alley who looked at the sky. She could see a dome over the skyline and outside that? Dark clouds that looked _wrong_. "Matron?" She asked, her tone turning kind.

"When?" Alley asked very quietly. Jian and the Major looked at one another and then Jian reached out to take Alley's limp arm. "_When_ is this?"

"2187, Matron." Jian said quietly as she guided Alley towards another door. "Come, we need to get you checked out. Then we can talk."

Alley took a long look back at the now dispersing formation with very recognizable vehicles and then let Jian pull her into the building. The large blue building with the huge red snake on it marked 'Cobra Headquarters'.

* * *

An hour later.

"What did I do?"

Physically, Alley was incredibly comfortable, far more so than she had been in recent memory. The warm pad that had been provided had a protrusion that was just the right size for her to coil up on. That was not a coincidence. _Everything_ here had been set up for her comfort. From the low impact lighting to the muted medical machinery, to the floors that were heated! All for her comfort.

Mentally? Psychologically? She was reeling. Not even the wonderful tasting restorative drink she had been given helped. She had scanned it with her ability and been pleasantly surprised. No drugs, no dangerous levels of energy boosters, no nothing but natural flavors. Her favorites. Surprise, surprise. The burns on her mouth from her toxin had been minor and she had been healing them, but the black haired doctor was both quick and efficient, aiding her ability in a way that few could comprehend. The woman had _clearly_ done it before.

"You saved everyone. You were not here until almost too late. X-Com lost." What was apparently an appointed medical person who had introduced herself as 'Anna' said gently as she checked her readouts. Her black leather attire screamed 'dominatrix' even with her glasses but her manner was kind and gentle. "You did what you had to, my dear. No more, no less." She smiled. "All healed."

"What did I _do?_" Alley all but begged Jian who had not left her side. The doctor patted her hand, rose and left the room.

"As the doctor said, you saved everyone, Matron. X-Com was defeated." Jian sighed deeply. "Just like when the Elders came before you were born, many years after you took the title of 'Matron', X-Com tried to stop an inter dimensional invasion and failed as well. It wasn't anything they had faced before and had no way of defending against it. You figured out what was happening and why. Then you acted, making a new armed force. We use the name 'XCom' to honor our predecessors, but that is not our organization. We fought beside the few survivors and won." Alley stared at her and Jian shook her head. "I wasn't there for the beginning, but someone here was. They are waiting to talk to you, but I wanted to be sure you had a chance to relax for a moment first. I know this is a shock, but we will take care of you." She laid a hand on Alley's flank and her kindness came through loud and clear. "Mom. You made me. Created me and so many others. You gave us a choice and what could we do but follow your bravery and kindness?'

"Is... Is this my fate?" Alley demanded weakly. "Eternal war?"

"No." Jian said sadly. "This is..."

"Stop coddling her, she won't appreciate it." A familiar voice sounded and _Mina_ stepped into the room, but.. That wasn't the Mina Alley knew! The very old woman was bent, but unbowed as she looked at Alley, her eyes glistening. She wore a blue uniform with the X-Com badge instead of the red snake. "Oh my god! Miss Alley… It _is_ you."

"Mina." Alley said weakly as the old, old woman stepped to her side and bent down to look in her eyes. "Mina. How?"

"You saved me. This body is mostly artificial, Matron." Mina said quietly. "My brain is all that is really left of the original me. You saved me, you saved _all_ of us."

"If the war is still going on, I didn't save anyone." Alley said weakly, her cup falling from a limp hand, but Jian caught it before it could spill. Jain set it aside, but did not move otherwise.

"You are wrong." Mina said as she sat beside Alley and her arms swept around to pull the Viper into a hug. "The Lady could not trust. X-Com could not trust. Without trust, no one could communicate when a new enemy appeared. X-Com fought as they always have. We failed." Mina bowed her head but when she raised it, she was smiling. "Then you took matters into your own coils. You did what we could not. You saved us _all_."

"I don't _understand!_" Alley all but wailed.

"I know." Mina sighed. "But there are limits to what we can say without irreparably harming the timeline. You will do what you think is right. In your own, unique way." Now, her smile was impish.

"Cobra was the enemy of the GI Joe team in a TV cartoon series from the 1980s as well as a couple of bad movies. The whole _idea_ of it was to sell toys!" Alley said weakly. Jian and Mina both nodded. "I... Mark loved the TV show. It was soldiers and war, but not that violent for all that. And it was always thinking and bravery that won the day, not guns."

"You told me who Mark's TV hero was." Mina said softly. Alley jerked and Mina nodded. "You never told anyone else. I doubt anyone outside your nest guessed why Mark enjoyed the show so much."

"What was the character's real name?" Alley demanded tightly. She had never said that to anyone that she knew of. Even the nest had never really focused on that. Each of them had pursued their own passions, at least, until the Elders had demanded they serve in a different, more pro-active way.

"Angus Macgyver." Mina replied instantly and Alley felt every ounce of breath leave her body. "Your partner Mark loved the character portrayed by Richard Dean Anderson because the character had a _heart_ and used his _brain_. He had no problem with violence when it was called for..." She paused as Alley gave a tiny sob.

"...but Macgyver hated guns." Alley bowed her head and both Jian and Mina hugged her. "He had cause."

"And violence was _never_ the only solution." Mina said gently as she held Alley. "Admittedly, that was a TV show, not real life, but still..."

"So was GI Joe!" Alley protested. "And… _Cobra?_" She demanded. "I _made_ Cobra?"

"Hey, the motif works. You needed a military organization to coordinate the people you made to fight and it worked." Mina was grinning wide at Alley's discomfiture. "At least under _your_ direction, they have never been 'a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world'." She quoted. "And now? They wouldn't _dare_ with Jian and her kin as Crimson Guard."

Alley looked at Jian who looked away. "I am gone by now, aren't I?"

"I… I shouldn't say." Jian said softly. Mina looked thunderous, but Jian shook her head. "You know what the Lady said, Mina. We cannot do but so much. We can aid. We can ward. That visitor was going to kill Alley, so I could help."

"You changed something, didn't you?" Mina said slowly.

"Not really. The visitor did some things that threatened to upset a bunch of stuff." Jian said very slowly. "And that is all I can say about that. We need to get her back before the changes get too pervasive. Matron..." She smiled little forlornly as Alley patted her arm and nodded.

"I shouldn't remember this, should I?" The Viper asked. "Knowledge of the future is no gift."

"No, it is not." Mina hugged Alley tight enough to hurt for a moment. "All I can say is 'Be yourself'. Don't be what you think anyone else wants you to be. Be yourself. Believe in yourself and know that no matter where you go or what you do, you will never be alone again. We are watching and we are warding. You are the Matron." She smirked. "Otherwise known as _Cobra Commander_."

"I hate you." Alley was smiling as she was falling and then she jerked awake. She had fallen asleep beside Mina's bed! A dream flitted through her head of an old TV show, but it faded as she looked at the slumbering waif. Then she looked at the wall where the tube with Mina's sister had been and scowled. Her memory was fuzzy, but she remembered the girl being taken. But by who? It wasn't clear. Jian stepped forward, her face blank. "We need to get Maya back. Now."

"Agreed, Matron." Jian said calmly.

"Jane and the nest are still infiltrating the base where the data is stored." Alley said very softly. "X-Com is spread thin trying to keep a lid on things. They will not be able to for much longer. I placed a tracker in that pilot's mind. We should know when he comes back."

"Matron..." Jian started, only to pause as Alley shook her head.

"I cannot go in guns blazing." Alley reassured the other. "But I know some people who can." The Viper shook her head. "The question is: 'What will it cost me?'." At that, Jian went totally still.

"Matron, no." Jian protested. "You cannot trust them!"

"No one said anything about trust." Alley retorted. "But they can do it. They can get Maya back."

"Matron..." Jian groaned as Alley rose and started for the door. "I… I cannot let you do this! I cannot..." She broke off as Alley spit something at her feet. Jian gasped and collapsed, instantly unconscious. Alley caught her and carried her towards the bed.

"Where I go, you cannot follow." Alley said very softly as she laid Jian on the bed.

_Alley, what are you doing?_ Her passenger asked, wary. Then Easer screamed as Alley pulled a scale from her neck and laid it on Mina's hand. The scale that hid Easer's tiny alien form.

_Something rash._ Alley replied. There was no reply and wouldn't be without physical contact. She cast out with her mind to touch a familiar one. The Sectoid was shocked at her touch. _X-Com is busy. The Lady's people are busy. It is time Advent did good for a change._

_Are you _**insane? **The Sectoid demanded._ You know the Speaker wants you! Do you know why?_

_Not really._ Alley replied as she slithered out of the room carefully. It was 0210 and the base was dark. There were shadows aplenty. The guards were professional, but relied on their tech and the psi powers of their wards to guard the whole place. Oops. A flash of gold was not really a surprise. _Hold tight to my mind if you would?_

_Matron? _Came from the other even as pain slammed into Alley and golden energy grabbed her and wafted her away._ Alley! _The Sectoid screamed as an evil chuckle slammed consciousness from Alley. Lizbeth.

For her part, Alley was smiling internally even as darkness claimed her.

_Manipulate _**me**_, will you? Bring it on, ya bitch!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Stall speed**

"What do you mean, 'She is gone'?" Syndrome demanded of Jian who stood with a scowl worthy of Jane Kelly. The male psi wasn't happy. He hadn't been happy when he had came in to find Jian unconscious and Alley gone. He had been less happy when he managed to wake Jian and she had nearly hit him.

Now? No. Happy wasn't anywhere close.

"I am running a scan. She is not on the base." Jian replied, her face almost as expressive as Syndrome skull mask. "I don't know why she knocked me out, but I can guess." She looked to the wall where Maya's tube had been. Syndrome followed her gaze and stilled. "Yeah. Someone took Maya."

"How?" Syndrome demanded, his shock a palpable thing. "I… I was..."

"You were working with Arisha." Jian said quietly. "And helping the kids. You were busy."

"I brought you and Alley here. I left you here..." Syndrome said slowly, confusion flaring. "No, no I didn't! I brought you here to put Mina to bed. Maya was here! Someone _else_ was!" He said sharply. "Someone tampered with my memories!"

The psi's power flared as he scanned himself. Whatever he found made him hiss.

"Yes. Someone must have." Jian was still blank, her eyes were far away. "Got her! She is..." She paused. "She is not on the planet." She said slowly. Syndrome stared at her and Jian slowly shook her head. "Does X-Com know about a base on the moon?"

"Advent has several bases on the moon." Syndrome replied, confusion flaring again as Jian shook her head. "Why?"

"That isn't an _Advent_ base." Jian snarled, her face showing fear and pain, then slowly contorting into a rictus of rage. "My people cannot see close to her. Some kind of defense shield. If they hurt her, I will kill them! I will kill them _all!_"

"If not Advent, then who?" Syndrome demanded. Jian just looked at him as he jerked, connecting the dots. An unknown pilot flying a spacecraft that claimed to be X-Com. Unknown enemies who could get in and out of X-Com facilities unseen. And now? A base that no one knew about. Who else did secrets better than even aliens? _X-Com_. "No!"

"Protect your people, Syndrome." Jian slowly forced herself to relax. "Alley knew. I am not sure how, but she knew. She _knew_ who we faced now."

"We don't have anything that I know of that can get to the moon." Syndrome said weakly. "I mean, the _Avenger_ can, but..." Jian shook her head. "We cannot just _leave_ her there!"

"We won't." Jian focused herself. "Your Avenger cannot cloak itself from scans in space. If that pilot comes back, he can blow it out of space easily. I have no information, but I _bet_ that is where his ship is based." She started for the door, only to have Syndrome bar her way. "I do not have time for this, Syndrome." Syndrome nodded and fell in beside her as she stalked out the door.

"What can I do?" The human psi asked. She eyed him and he shook his head. "I recovered my memories. Elizabeth was here. She and Alley got into it. I saw who took Maya. I saw what Alley did. Jenni always said that there were powers far beyond Elders or human psionics. I think I saw one." He snorted as he eyed Jian right back. "Or _two_. I bet that means I will have to forget all of what I remember, but for now? What can I do?"

"You are far wiser than most." Jian said quietly. "I am so limited in what I can do here until or unless she is harmed. Alley was not so limited. Advent just went on full alert and they are preparing a large scale assault for that area of the moon."

"Advent?" Syndrome stiffened, but continued to follow her as she stepped out of the building and started for a runway in the distance.

"You have duties, Syndrome." Jian said mildly as she walked. "I don't. The kids need you. I will get Maya and Alley back, I promise."

"_Before_ Jane has a conniption fit?" Syndrome all but begged with an exaggerated wince.

"I don't do miracles. I am soldier, not a goddess." Jian snickered at his sigh. Syndrome stopped short and stared as a shape simply appeared in front of them. An odd shape. It was clearly a vehicle of some kind. Gray metal surrounded a single seat and two large engines on the back proclaimed it was some kind of flying machine. The large gun slung underneath and the two small missiles on the sides showed it wasn't for recreation. But it was the _symbol_ that was sprayed on the large bubble over the seat that had Syndrome pausing. The red snake.

"What is your rank?" Syndrome asked as Jian stepped up to the machine and the bubble rose for her to enter. She sat and started pulling belts on.

"Lieutenant Commander." Jian replied easily as she started pushing buttons and the engines growled into life, far quieter than they should have been. Then the sound muted as she pushed another button. The sound was a soft 'whoosh' now. Clearly some kind of stealth system. "I will-"

Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as a bolt of energy came out of nowhere to slam into one of the engines of the craft. Both Syndrome and Jian jerked as the odd vehicle shut down. Jian stared at her console and then she slumped.

"Do nothing." Jain's seemed resigned but… That was a command. Was it to Syndrome or someone else? Syndrome stared as Jain undid her belts, raised the canopy and stepped out of the ship to stand, looking off into the distance. She spread her arms, her hands empty and shook her head. "I am not your enemy." She said firmly.

"Where is Alley?" An angry voice heralded the hologram of a Viper appearing nearby. Syndrome stilled yet again. That was Ana, Cable companion and she was furious. Cable had gone off the help ensure the base's security and hadn't been seen since. He was a sniper and by all accounts very good at his job.

"I don't know for sure." Jian said to the hologram. "She knocked me out and there was a portal trace. I am not sure why she knocked me out, but I can guess that she was going to do something crazy." She shook her head. "Not that you would know anything about 'crazy', Ana."

"Crazy?" Ana inquired coldly. "Crazy is _you_ flying a Cobra Trouble Bubble." Syndrome stared at the hologram and then at the very real vehicle Jian had almost flown away. "Or did you think the rest of us simply _ignored_ Mark's favorite TV shows as a kid?" That was snide.

"No, you didn't." Jian was quiet, sad. "I am not your enemy, Ana. I want to help Alley. That is my whole reason for being here."

"Is it?" Ana demanded. "Alley was hurt and you showed up out of nowhere. You know things about us that no one does. That no one can!" Jian still did not move and Ana spat something in a language that Syndrome did not know. Jian froze.

"Ana, no." Jian all but begged. "Don't!"

"We have our own means of tracking our sisters. We know where she is. Does X-Com know where that base came from?" Ana demanded of Syndrome who stared at the holo, out of his depth.

"From what Jian has said and not said, I assume it is an X-Com base." Syndrome said very slowly. He was good, but if Cable was _half_ the shot as some X-Com snipers, the psi had no chance as exposed a she was.

"It is not." Ana snarled. "Any more than _she_ is."

"Ana." Jian's tone was warning now. "Alley is in danger. We can discuss things after she is freed."

"We will discuss them _now_, Zhong xiao." Ana snapped and Syndrome stared as Jian jerked. "Or did you think we would not figure it out?"

"I am not your enemy!" Jian snapped right back. "All I want is for Alley to be free and unhurt! That is all!"

"Really?" Ana snarled and looked at the odd vehicle. "I find it interesting that you are using a vehicle or the _seeming_ of a vehicle that was one of Mark's favorites. No one else outside the nest knows that. Unless… They were _there_." That was hard and cold and Syndrome actually took a step back as Jian laid a hand on her staff. "There when we were growing. When we were being experimented on. When our nest mates were _dying off_."

Suddenly, the Viper's rage made perfect sense to the psi who swallowed hard. What had been done to the nest was horror on par with anything else that the Elders had done. All of the humans of the nest had been taken as children and raised with Vipers as companions. The _other_ things that had been done…

There was a _reason_ that the nest did not trust _anyone_ from the outside. Not even the Lady. Alley was a notable exception, and even _her_ trust had strict limits. No one still living was supposed to know about what had occurred in the horror filled place where Alley had grown up with her partner and nestmates.

"Jian?" Syndrome inquired slowly. He was careful not to move.

"I have my own sources of information." Jian said very slowly. "I was not there. You cannot take my word for that but I cannot speak of it."

"I _can_." Ana snarled. "One of our missions was to investigate this area. To see if any humans still lived after the Elder's conquest." Syndrome stared at the Viper who was still furious, but cold, so cold now. "We found a few, saved a few." For a moment her rage faded and only sorrow showed. "Saved them to be taken by _Advent_ anyway. We did not know the full history and it didn't matter. We had our orders, our mission and we were out of the lab. Mother made sure we didn't stray too far, but we were curious about humans." Now, her anger was back. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Zhong xiao?"

"Ana, that is not my rank. I cannot answer you." Jian said sadly.

"Well, it is interesting that you are an exact duplicate of a Chinese woman named Jian who was one of the last holdout warlords in this area of Asia. Zhong xiao Jian fought to the bitter end. Or _did_ she?" Now, Ana voice might have frozen a tide. "We found her picture on several walls. Radioactive ones." At that, Jian actually staggered. "Some kind of survival shelter? Bunker?" She demanded.

"She never said where the DNA came from." Jian said weakly. "Just that she found it." She wasn't talking to Ana or Syndrome. "Is it…? No. We have to help Alley!" She shook her head and focused on the hologram again. "Ana, whatever you think, I am not your enemy."

"Prove it!" Ana snapped.

"I will." Jian bowed to the hologram. "Don't hurt them!" That was a command and Ana gasped. Syndrome stared as a 'crump' sounded in the distance and the hologram cut out. Jian sighed deeply as Syndrome stared at her. "I didn't know about that. I never asked. It wasn't important to me. If… If I am a clone of this woman, then, maybe it was to make some good come of the bad? Maybe."

"You are not talking to _me_, are you?" Syndrome asked very carefully.

"No." Jian heaved a sigh and then straightened. Syndrome stilled as huge white _thing_ appeared in the distance. It as humanoid, but clearly not human. Some kind of robot? It had no knees and its arms were weapons, one a machine gun and the other a claw. Was that a view slit on the head? Was this some kind of armor? It was ungainly, but from how it carried two still forms? Very strong. Just like the bubble, it had a red snake emblem in various places. Jain shook her head as the thing moved to stand next to her. She reached up and took a still Viper from one arm, laying Ana's body on the ground. She checked Ana's vitals and relaxed. She took Cable's limp body down as well. "We will need to recover their weapons, but that can wait. They are both alive. Well done." She nodded to the white thing. Instead of answering, it turned and walked away. In between one step and another, it vanished. She turned to Syndrome who was looking at the bubble ship. "That will vanish as soon as the portal powers again."

"No evidence." Syndrome said mildly.

"It helps, not to leave traces." Jian shook her head. "But I think the time for subtlety has passed."

Syndrome stilled as something howled nearby and then a shape was speeding towards them. It was big, angular and black. His amp was in hand but Jian held up a hand as she moved to stand between the unconscious pair and the vehicle.

"If you get dirt all over her nestmates, Alley will likely be annoyed." Jian said in a quiet tone that implied violence and the vehicle slowed its headlong rush towards them. "They have cause and _more_ than cause to distrust. You know this, sisters."

Syndrome didn't move as the large tracked vehicle slid to a stop nearby. The tracks were triangular and the hull higher than he expected. It was far quieter than any tank that he had ever imagined. The turret on top spun to cover him with two long weapons and he slowly lowered his psi amp. He did _not_ holster it. The figure in the turret was unclear, but the image on its helmet and the side of the tank was. A red snake!

"We need to move." A female voice came from the turret gunner who was still covering Syndrome.

"We _need_ to make sure that Ana and Cable are taken care of." Jian retorted. "Or _again_, Alley is likely to be annoyed. I assume that the others are moving into place?" Whatever response she got wasn't audible and she nodded. "Good." She turned to Syndrome but he shook his head.

"This never happened and you were never here." Syndrome holstered his amp slowly.

"He is cute, can we keep him?" Came from the tank and Jian went red faced.

"_Nightstalker __Biyu!_" Jian snapped and the turret gunner banged her helmeted head on the turret in clear exasperation! "We have already made _enough_ of a mess! Keep your lusts in check or I _will_ send you home."

"Yes, mother." Came a calm rejoinder. Snickers sounded and Jian shook her head as Syndrome shook his. Jian had a long suffering look on her face as she turned to look at Syndrome who shrugged.

"Go." Syndrome knelt beside Ana and checked her as well. She seemed only unconscious, but he would get medical support out here as soon as possible. He wasn't fully dialed in on Viper physiology, but when he checked Cable, the sniper was just asleep. A look at his face though, had Syndrome looking at Jian who frowned.

"We don't know." Jian admitted. "We are the same ethnic type, but no one knows where our human DNA came from. Asia, yes. But I don't know this Zhong xiao Jian that Ana was speaking of. If I _was_ cloned from a Chinese warlord, which _is_ possible, then the only one who would know is Alley."

"Would she?" Syndrome asked as a hatch slammed down from the back of the tank. Again, it made far less noise hitting the ground than it should have. Jian started for the hatch, her posture resigned.

"I am not Chinese, if that helps." Jian said with a sad smile. "My only concern right now is Alley."

"Can you save her?" Syndrome asked. "From whoever or whatever has her?"

"What. And… I don't know." Jian admitted. "But we are going to do what we can."

Syndrome just nodded as the woman boarded the tank. The hatch closed silently after her and then it sped off into the distance. He was not surprised when it vanished. He shook his head as he keyed to call for support. HQ would not be pleased, but he bet _others_ would not be either.

* * *

Aboard a very odd armored transport

As always, the ride was smooth. HISS tanks hadn't been designed as actual armored fighting vehicles. The original toys had been made to look menacing and little else, but the organization that Jian belonged to had crackerjack engineers, Against all odds, they had managed to make the HIgh Speed Sentry model VIc actually work far better than anyone had dreamed. If only it wasn't so expensive.

"Sitrep." Jian asked as she finished belting herself in. She knew better than to ride without restraints. Her sister Biyu was a lot of things, patient in potentially hot combat zones was _not_ one of them.

"Advent has lost two transports with full assault pods aboard attempting to access the moon base. Combination energy and projectile defenses make any armor moot and active sensors went live when the first transport crossed the horizon. Any stealth will be compromised in moments." Came from the sole other occupant of the troop bay. The other woman shook her crimson helmet. "They will keep throwing troops away. Even if they land out of line of sight and march, whoever built that base has to have made other defense plans possibly using the anti-spacecraft batteries in a direct fire role. There is zero cover within a kilometer of the base and its shields are strong. Any conceivable assault will be cut to pieces long before they get into effective range."

"Probably." Jian mused. "Even Advent has limits, especially now that the Elders are gone. Frontal assaults are a bad idea anyway. Are we sure she is there?"

"Yes." The other was grimacing under her mask. "One thing: We never lost a solid lock on her vitals. Alley was transported to another location before going to the moon." Jian paused in whatever she was going to say and the red armored woman nodded. "Analysts say a portal nexus. That makes sense if the defenses of the base are as strong as they seem."

"True." Jian said slowly. "Getting in and out would be quite dangerous in such a case except for a ship capable of faster than light travel. They wouldn't have to lower the defenses in such a case." She frowned. "How sure?"

"Coming in now. Analysis is clear. 95% that she is there." The other replied instantly. "93% that she was taken somewhere _else_ prior to going there. 90% that previous location is a portal nexus or other means of instantaneous travel. Location known."

"Show me, Fenfang." Jian commanded and as a holo appeared. She hissed as she recognized the place. "Oh crap! That is..." She trailed off as she thought hard.

"It is the Advent facility Jane Kelly and her cohorts are infiltrating." Her fellow Crimson Guardswoman said soberly. "That cannot be a coincidence."

"Not with Lizbeth involved, no. Enough." Jian snapped. "We _tried_ the gentle way and it has cost us. It will _not_ cost Alley her life. We need to _talk_ to the Speaker. Right now. Get me Infiltration Leader!"

A hologram appeared of a white masked being who bowed to Jian. Jian smiled grimly.

"Storm Shadow? I have a job for you that you will truly _enjoy_."


	15. Chapter 15

**For continuity's sake, this takes place during and just after chapter 23 of my fanfiction Warframe: Prisons. Not that continuity means much when Eliza gets going, but still this should make things a bit easier to understand. Elizabeth reset the reality (Angering the Lady yet again!) but that leaves Shogun and crew in extremely hostile territory. Never fear. Backup is on the way.**

* * *

**Break turn  
**

Jane Kelly stared at the empty space where Elizabeth had fallen, the energy fire from the odd humanoid robots that garrisoned the place scoring the cover she was in. That wasn't Advent plasma fire. Whatever these things were, they were human in origin. But not entirely. Each and every one of the monsters had been human but now, were animated by familiar purple energy. She wasn't a big fan of the word 'monster' after all of her misadventures but it fit. There really wasn't any other word for the stitched together corpses that had been animated psionically.

"Move!" Aroa's warning came just in time as a grenade landed behind Jane's soft cover. A duck and a roll avoided the blast of cold and Jane ran for heavier protection as fire sought her again. Odd. That was a cryo grenade of some kind. Not a fragmentation one like X-Com had used for so long or a plasma grenade like Advent used. A burst from Jack had the enemy _thing_ that had tried to freeze her falling with half its head gone but Jane as not hopeful. Whatever these things were, they regenerated better than any Advent she had ever faced. It wouldn't stay down. She had cut several in half with her sword and the halves had rejoined, the bodies coming back to the fight with new scars across their bodies.

It was weird though. The rest of the team was being hemmed in by projectiles and plasma fire. Whoever was shooting at her wasn't using that. She had been grazed by a couple of the shots and they had tingled her nerves but not hurt her. Some kind of stunner. The only reason she could think of wasn't a good one. They wanted her alive. That gave her team options. Maybe not _her_, but her people.

Jane slid into cover beside Aroa and checked her teammate automatically for wounds. The Viper hissed at her, but her heart wasn't in it. She knew. Jane looked at the Viper and handed the data disk to the nest's intelligence specialist who took it, securing it in a pouch. Aroa had a better chance of getting out of this trap than Jane did and the data on the disk was what they had come for.

"Go. Get to the rendezvous." Jane said quietly. "I will extract and meet you."

Aroa stared at the swordswoman, but all of the nest were professionals. They all knew that the mission had to come first. In a touching gesture, Aroa reached out to pat Jane's arm and then, she was gone, slithering into, around and _through_ cover as only a snake could. Projectiles chased her but she was away. Jack and the others would cover her. They would make it. Jane had to believe that. She poked her Storm Gun's muzzle around a corner and fired off three shots, just to keep the enemy distracted from Aroa's flight.

"Colonel!" Jack called from his hiding place.

"Get out!" Jane commanded. "I will lead them away!"

"If anything happens to you, Alley will have my head!" Jack retorted. "What the hell happened to Elizabeth?"

"I don't know." Jane replied as she eased to one side of the massive set of pallets that she was using as concealment. Whatever was in them was dense enough to stop the shots aimed at her, so maybe it counted as cover? Maybe. "Get to extraction! Hollywood! Beta! Bug out!"

_Her_ people did not quibble even though they surely wanted to. They knew not to argue in combat zones. She had led them through so much, seen friends and not-friends at her side die so many times that it blurred. She was tired, Jane Kelly was. She jerked. That wasn't her! She gave herself a stern shake. Whatever fatigue was pushing in on her was not from _her_ mind. It was another attempt to disable her. She darted from cover to cover, limiting her exposure as only a veteran of far too many fights to remember did instinctively. She was running out of places to hide however. The bay was only so big and there was no cover near the only exit. Aroa was out and everyone _else_ had been just outside, so that was a win.

A roar sounded and Jane stilled as a huge form ran into the bay. Oshina had insisted on sending one of his warriors with them and she hadn't been able to argue him out of it. It was like arguing with a rock. (She wasn't sure why every member of her team had snickered when she had muttered that and wasn't going to ask) She couldn't pronounce the Muton's name, but he had proven to be just as professional as the nest. So what was he _doing? _She stared as he ran to one side, slammed into something and another of the monstrous human parodies went flying, this one bursting in _i__ce_ as its weapon shattered under the Muton's energy bayonet. Some kind of launcher that it had been about to fire at Jane! The _Muton_ had just saved her! But...

"_NO!_" Jane screamed as lethal fire came from four different direction, catching the hulking alien out of cover. Even as he staggered, he fired back with his plasma rifle and a monster fell, torso on fire. Jane knew Mutons were ungodly tough and _Oshina's_ Mutons were even tougher than that, but there were limits. He fell. Jane's heart was thudding in her chest and she felt the red rage of her bloodlust rising yet again. She fired again and again at whatever enemies she could see as the Muton crawled into what meager cover was close, pulling himself with the wreck of his left arm. He was still firing with his good hand!

"_Human! __Go!_" The word was hard to hear and it was clear that English was not his first language. It was also clear to Jane's battle weary soul that there was no saving this one. His next words proved that he knew it too. "_I! DIE! __**FREE!**_"

Jane could only stare in shock as the Muton rose and charged again, blood streaming from several wounds. While they had waited for Elizabeth to finish her data theft, they had set this area as best they could for a hot extraction. Three doors led into the base, one allowed exit and her team had left that way. Two of the doors had slagged when enemies had tried to access them, but the third had been the one Elizabeth and she had needed an egress point. Hadn't she? They had trapped it and covered it with their guns, but _no on_e had expected one entire side wall to be a _hangar door! _When it had opened, all hell had broken loose even before the alarms had gone off and Elizabeth had come running. Jane gasped as the Muton made it into the hangar behind the door and then, he fell, never to rise. Some sixth sense warned her and she looked away just as a massive explosion came from where the Muton had fallen. Whatever it was, the blast threw her cover halfway across the bay, pushing her with it. Nothing conventional that Jane knew of that was man (or Muton!) portable could have done that.

_Was that a nuke? _When her ears stopped ringing,Jane gave herself a shake and stared at what had been a hangar. Now, as far as she could see into the base, twisted wreckage was all that she saw. Then her heart froze as something moved. One of the animated corpses was stirring. Bravery was all well and good, but she was over-matched and knew it. She turned and ran. As she ran, she thought hard.

_This was a trap for me. We figured it was a trap, but for the nest. Not for me._ Jane swerved to avoid a series of outcroppings as she slammed towards the extraction point. She knew she was to late however. Firebrand had to extract. There was only so long that even X-Com's technical wizardry mixed with the nest's skill could spoof targeting. The defenses of the base were formidable even discounting the odd animated corpses. They had to get the cure to Milodi and see whatever else Elizabeth had managed to download.

"And where do you think you are going?" A calm voice heralded Elizabeth stepping into view from behind a tree nearby. No, this wasn't Elizabeth. This one wore a smile that was almost crazed. Lizbeth. She shook her head as Jane aimed at her. "There is no need to be violent here, Colonel. Humans will not be harmed."

"That was almost funny." Jane said with a growl as she started off again. If this being had the same powers as Elizabeth, shooting at her wouldn't work. She was tempted. So very tempted. "Almost." She not actually surprised as a golden dome sprang into life surrounding her. "Then again, what was it you said? 'X-Rays will die'?" She sneered at Lizbeth as the woman shook her head. "And I was touched by several, so I must have their cooties."

At that schoolyard insult, Lizbeth just shook her head.

"You are the strongest pure human he has ever seen." Lizbeth said quietly. "I won't hurt you. You will not be harmed. You are needed."

"Right." Jane snapped. "Pull the other one."

"You will need to be decontaminated, but that won't hurt." Lizbeth was trying for reassurance, but it fell flat. "I can free you from the bonds that hold you and I will. Look, Jane… May I call you Jane?" She asked.

"No." The colonel snapped as she fired off two bursts at Lizbeth, more to see what happened than in any hope of hurting the evil woman. The razor sharp shards of alien allow projected by plasma hit the inside of the dome and just stopped.

"There is no need for that." Lizbeth said gently. "Be calm, Colonel Kelly. No one will harm-" She broke off with a sigh as as Jane rotated her Storm Gun and slid the muzzle under her jaw. "Now you are just being _stupid!_" Jane jerked as gold energy flashed and her shotgun vanished out of her hands. Lizbeth shook her head. "I am trying to be nice, Colonel. It doesn't come naturally."

"I am sure." Jane retorted. "After all, psychopaths don't need to be nice, do they?" She frowned. "Or would you be a sociopath? Hard to say what kind of crazy you are."

"Crazy is as crazy does." Lizbeth shrugged. "I have been a bit unbalanced. I freely admit that. I try very hard not to hurt humans. He doesn't want to hurt humans." She bit her lip, suddenly looking young and a bit lost. "Jane. He can give Jenni back to you."

Whatever she intended, the pure, cold rage that flew through Jane at the mention of her lost love was not going to be denied. The inner berserker that had lost her love tore through her mind, shattering her remaining control. In a flash it took full possession of her as the world turned red to Jane's eyes. The burst of Scandinavian profanity that flew from her mouth was only matched by the blade that slammed again and again into the barrier between her and Lizbeth who recoiled. A flash of gold surrounded her blade, but in her rage enhanced speed, she pulled it away from the energy field before it could grip her sword and the energy vanished. She hit the barrier again.

"Oh crap." Lizbeth sighed deeply as Jane slammed again and again into the barrier. Blade and fist strike did nothing but fan her rage further. "I.. Um..."

"Enough." A calm male voice sounded and Jane snarled as a familiar form appeared nearby. An Avatar. One of the Elders' vessels for their will, created using human DNA harvested form unwilling donors in a horrific process. X-Com had fought several of them in the course of defeating the Elders. But, this Avatar was tattered. Damaged. It held up a hand and Jane felt power the likes of which she had never imagined slam into her. Her rage fought back as her limbs were pinned to her sides. This time when the golden energy flared, her sword vanished. "You are needed human, Jane Kelly. You will not be harmed."

Jane spat a Northmen curse at him as she continued to struggle. The bindings around her frayed under her rage and faded. She hit the barrier with her fist, then the other fist. All it did was hurt, but she was beyond caring.

"She will hurt herself!" Lizbeth sounded far younger now. Scared. "Master! We have to stop her!"

"Jane Kelly, be calm." The Avatar spoke again, but Jane was far beyond reason, spitting and all but frothing at the mouth as she kept hitting the barrier with her fists, feet and then her head! Purple energy flared, but then it faded. The Avatar heaved an all too human sigh. "We need to let her wear herself out. Whatever damage she does can be repaired. If not quickly. Ah Jane Kelly. You are _exactly_ what we need. Strong and unbreakable. All we need to do is explain and you will understand."

"Oh, she understands just fine." Both the Avatar and Lizbeth spun to see Jian step out of the gathering gloom. The day was turning into night. "It is _you_ who has thoroughly screwed the pooch."

"You!" Lizbeth retreated a step to stand by the Avatar who had a psionic amp in hand. "Just go away, you monster!"

"Pot, meet kettle." Jian's retort was calm, amused even. "You have no idea, do you?" She asked the Avatar who stared at her. "You have no idea just how many people you have angered. He cannot come back. He is _dead_. There are rules for a _reason_."

"You have no place here." The Avatar said slowly. Jian shrugged and he snarled. "Leave, interloper. Now!"

"If you wish, sure." Jian smiled grimly as a sound came to the pair and to Jane through her rage. A familiar tread. No. More than _one_. Large metal feet. "In that case? _You_ get to explain it to _Advent_."

Everything stopped as a pair of Sectopod walking tanks stepped into view. The largest and most powerful automatons in Advent's arsenal, they had torn through Earth's military forces with ease when the Elders had first come. Both had their weapons extended and aimed at the Avatar. The Avatar spun, his amp in hand. Lizbeth vanished and the Avatar snarled something at Jain who shrugged.

"See you soon, monster." Jian promised as the Avatar ran back towards the base. She eyed he dome around Jane and shook her head. "As I am, I cannot break that and any weapon powerful enough to breach it will kill her." Jane slammed into the barrier again and again. "And if _you_ breach it, she will kill you or die trying." She sighed. "Secure the perimeter. I will try to talk her down."

Dark forms in familiar armor scattered through the darkness that was growing. Advent Hybrid soldiers, moving with skill and purpose to surround the facility. Several Advent Mechs followed them, mobile fire support. A Sectoid stepped out of the gloom to stand beside Jian who shook her head as Jane hit the inside of the dome again.

"She is not going to stop fighting as long as there are beings who she sees as enemies here." Jian said firmly. "Let me handle this." The Sectoid looked at her and Jian shook her head. "Please?"

Even in her rage, Jane was astounded when the Sectoid stepped away, joining the forces that were surrounding the base she has just run from. In moments, only Jian stood in earshot and Jane stared as the woman knelt and her face altered. No, a hologram faded, showing her eyes as pure black. She bowed her head and spoke. Not in English or in any language that was common. In Gaeilge! Jane's _first_ language. The language of her first family. She barely remembered, but it came back as Jian spoke.

[You can take off the cap, Grandmother.] Jian said quietly in the mother tongue of Ireland. [They do not know this language. It was never recorded by Advent. Too obscure. They will not act. They are ordered to obey me. For now.] She qualified.

[Who…? Are…? You…?] Jane managed to grate the words out in the same language through still fully fanned rage.

"As I told you before, my name is Jian." The kneeling woman switched to English. "I have had to be very careful in what I said and how. Now? I have to be just as careful or more so. There are many ears here now, Colonel." She frowned. "Idiot. She just _had_ to say that, didn't she? She just _had_ to!" She sighed. "I am going to get you out of there, get you some healing. You will need it, you have broken both of your hands."

"You are working with Advent! I am going nowhere with you, traitor!" Jane snapped.

"Technically, _they_ are working with _me_, since one of my men has the Speaker at sword-point." Jian said mildly and Jane stared at her as she smiled. It was not a nice smile. "He doesn't like politicians and he took what the scum wanted Alley for as a direct insult. Say what you will about Hollywood depictions of ninja or shinobi or whatever you want to call them? Even discounting that none of us are Japanese… Insulting an entire _clan_ of sneaky infiltration types is _not_ a good idea." She actually winced. "They took what happened to Alley as a _direct_ insult. That gets messy, as the Speaker found out."

"What happened to Alley?" Jane demanded, her rage fanned anew.

"She got sick of being manipulated and took action." Jian shook her head. "Insane action, but what can you expect?" Jane stared at her and then hissed."She let Lizbeth take her. We tracked her here and now she is elsewhere. We can get there through this base and we are going to."

"You are working with Advent!" Jane snarled but paused as Jian smiled grimly. "What?"

"_They _are going to secure this base." Jian replied. "And _no more_. They will never touch Alley or you again."

"Or what?" Jane inquired.

"Or I will lose _my_ temper." Jian's smile was a death's head now. "My troops are going to attack the base. When we do, the enemy are likely going to sortie their star fighter. It is really the only chance they have. In space, we cannot match it and they know it."

"So, what do you plan?" Jane demanded as her rage faded and pain came from her hands. She ignored it as always. Pain was inconsequential.

"I am going to _cheat _in the exact same way these idiots did." Jian smiled again. "But… To do that? I need someone to make sure we don't go too far. That's you."

"Cheat?" Jane asked as the dome faded and she relaxed a bit as nothing happened. Too soon. A form in black leather appeared beside her and took her hands in strangely gentle ones. The woman's chest was emblazoned with a red snake! She stared at the glasses the woman wore and the woman nodded. She didnt' seem armed. What kind of _crazy..._

"Yeah." Jian smiled wide. "X-Com needs a way to defend against such and that guy needs to be stopped. Alley wants him alive, so we will try. If not? She will mad, but she will be alive." She shook her head. "He is not from around here, as you have no doubt guessed."

"So how do you stop him?" Jane demanded as her hands went numb. She stared at them as the woman wrapped her hands in some kind of odd bandages.

"They broke the rules _first._ We pull in _other_ things from not around here." Jian's smile should have split her face and would have scared away a tiger. "Just not _many_."

"The Lady wont be happy." Jane said weakly as the black clad woman woman patted her now not hurting hand and silently nodded to Jian and Jane. She rose, took a step and vanished. Jane barely noticed after all of the other strangeness.

"Actually, _she_ is the reason we are allowed to do it at _all_. She dictated that _you_ be the cut off. Say when it is enough and we stop." Jian promised as she rose. She left her face as it was as she stepped to Jane's side and reached down to take Jane's arm. "You are in command, Colonel. What say we get Alley and Maya back?"

"Wait! What?" Jane felt her guts plummet but her anger was fanned again. "_MAYA?_"

"Yeah, they took Maya too. We will get them back. Let's go, Commander. I can brief you on the way." Jian started to lead Jane away from the base.

"I need a gun." Jane snapped. Far from cowed, Jian just smiled again.

"We have it covered."


	16. Chapter 16

**Loops**

Alley was not awake. That said, she was not asleep either. She had never completely lost consciousness despite everything that various people had done. Between her anger at things that had happened and her abilities, she had managed to retain some semblance of consciousness while she had been bounced about. Add to that her healing ability crossed with her ability to shut off her nervous system and it got really hard to hurt her. Someone had actually started to dissect her and she had healed the damage as soon as they had cut. It hadn't been pleasant at all, but it had been hilarious hearing Lizbeth curse.

Now? Something had changed and Alley was done waiting. She cast out with her mind and was pleasantly surprised. She was floating in a tank like Maya's. The fluid was oxygenated, so she wasn't going to drown. Not that she would in any normal sense, but still it was odd to say the least. It was warm and comfortable in the tube. It seemed that they, whoever they were, didn't actually want her dead or even hurting now.

A young voice crying nearby pulled Alley's attention and she cracked an eye to find another surprise. Lizbeth sat in a chair next to the tube. She was crying. She was also muttering to herself and with a bit of effort, Alley altered her auditory apparatus to hear the woman.

"Liars! All liars. Everyone lies!" The woman… No. Lizbeth was young. She was maybe fifteen? She had been crying for a while. "They take and take and take!" She snarled as she held her head in her hands, tears falling to land on the floor. "I just... I just wanted to find Cathi… Why was that so hard?"

"Lizbeth, honey..." Alley went totally still as _Elizabeth_ appeared nearby. She was older than Alley had last seen her and she wore a beautiful golden gown as well as a crown that glowed dully on her head. "It is all right."

"_GO AWAY!_" The girl screamed at the older version of herself. "_I hate you!_"

"I deserve that." Elizabeth said quietly. "No one thought to check. There were so many of us. So many… me." She said weakly as Lizbeth cried. "We didn't realize, girl. I am sorry. Lizbeth, it is not too late. You can fix this!" She pleaded.

"Fix?" Lizbeth snapped. "Fix _what? _They will attack and he will be let loose!Advent is going to die! Humans are all going to die. _Everyone_ will die! The only one left will be me and… it." She winced hard and Elizabeth looked away. "I… I can't."

"You can't do it _alone_, girl. But you don't have to! There are people who can help! Let us!" Elizabeth begged.

"_GO AWAY!_" Lizbeth screamed again. "Go back to your life! Your throne! _Your family!_ Go away!"

"Lizbeth, I am sorry." Elizabeth said sadly. "It is not your fault! It is _mine!_" She shook her head. "Lizbeth, you can stop this. You are the only one who can. You cannot do it alone. But you are not alone. Girl… please! I do not want to lose you. I love you." She begged.

"Liar!" Lizbeth all but spat that, but the older version of herself wasn't fazed.

"Lizbeth, in every way that matters, you are my sister." The woman with the crown said quietly. "I have failed you. I know that. What happened to you was horror on par with any I have seen across the multiverse but it is not too late. Not yet. Lizbeth, _please!_" Lizbeth looked at the older her and her eyes turned cold.

"Master, we have an intruder." The girl's voice was a monotone and Elizabeth stilled as a humanoid form appeared in Alley's vision. She had never seen one, but Jane had described Advent Avatars to her. This was one. It appeared to be androgynous, white-haired human in armor with a purple facemask. But the armor was incomplete and the body seemed almost patchwork?

"Begone, interloper." The Avatar raised a psionic amp, but Elizabeth did not move, did not draw a weapon or react in any way.

"Feel free to attack me." Elizabeth might have been carved form stone now. "Then I will have cause to retaliate and I will kill you for what you did to her and so many others." She nodded to Lizbeth who sat frozen at this byplay. "If you perish, your hold on my sister perishes with you. Your creator broke rules that he could not fathom. You are not him. You are a _cheap copy_." That was biting. "You don't even know why you are doing this, do you?"

"I obey my commands." The other retorted even as his amp started to glow.

"Your commands are as idiotic as his agenda was." Elizabeth shook her head. "Immortality is no blessing as the Elders found out. He died. You are not him and Alley cannot repair your form any more than she could repair the one the Speaker wanted her to fix."

Wait a minute. Alley stilled in her tank. Who was Elizabeth talking to? Was she explaining to _Alley_ what they wanted?

"This world is mine." The Avatar snapped and drew power form his amp to throw at Elizabeth. Elizabeth smirked as the bolt of energy hit something in front of her and reflected. It hit the tank Alley was in and half of it vanished! None of the energy hit her! That was clearly by plan as Elizabeth chortled and both of the others stared from Elizabeth to the tank where fluid was falling out of a huge hole melted in its facing. Elizabeth's tone was mocking now.

"Oops."

While they were stunned, Alley acted. Here, Lizbeth had a physical form. She was incredibly powerful, but her form was human so, barring any incredibly powerful and likely dangerous to hang onto technologies, she was vulnerable. Alley's spit hit the girl in the face and Lizbeth fell, a shocked expression fading as the powerful sedative did its magic. The Avatar spun, his amp coming up, but suddenly, the world shifted and Alley was beside Elizabeth! Power flared around her. Golden power that somehow, she knew was protective. Somehow, she knew Elizabeth would die before she let Alley come to further harm. She shouldn't trust Elizabeth, but somehow, she knew that right here, right now, she could.

"No, I can't fix that." Alley agreed as she gathered power. "_Destroying_ it now? Jane told me how." She smiled grimly as the Avatar seemed frozen. Or were they moving faster than him? "This is the mysterious 'He' who had been running things?" She asked the woman with the crown.

"Yes." Elizabeth said sadly. "This is what is left of the Warlock's evil. What he planned to use to take control from the Elders." Alley stared at Elizabeth, dumbfounded, and the woman shrugged. "One of the first rules of power. 'Most people want more'. Coups are nothing new. He had a great deal of power, but he wanted more and the Elders refused to give it, so he was going to take it. Then after a particularly bad mess, he found a young human girl who had no idea why she was called to search this reality for someone she did not know. It took him quite a while to break my sister, but he did." She slumped as she looked at Lizbeth's crumpled body. "If he wasn't dead, I would kill him myself just for that and to _hell_ with the consequences."

"The Lady doesn't like you." Alley said slowly and Elizabeth shook her head, still eyeing the Avatar which seemed frozen.

"I have given her cause. Lizbeth made a mess, and I have made more trying to stop her." Elizabeth sounded off and Alley reached out to touch the woman who stilled. She was bleeding internally! Inside her head! "Alley! No!" Elizabeth batted Alley's hand away. "This is _my_ curse. You cannot stop it or help me. I will live." Under her breath she muttered 'No matter how much I might wish otherwise'.

Without her enhanced hearing, Alley never would have heard the soft words. For all of her faults, Alley was a kind-hearted soul now. She knew the depths of evil and the heights that good could aspire to. She knew failure and grief when she heard it. She might not like or trust Elizabeth in any other situation, but here? She understood about losing family, Alley did.

"What is he trying to do?" Alley asked after a moment's thought. "I mean, killing off Advent seems counterproductive."

"It makes sense if you realize he needs corpses to make his armies." Elizabeth replied and Alley felt her guts clench. "Psionically animated corpses do not bleed. They do not need food, fuel or any other logistics that are in short supply with the Elders gone. Even with weapons, they are far easier to maintain than a regular armed force."

"So all of the those Advent who died in Asia..." Alley inhaled as Elizabeth nodded.

"...are fodder of his army of undead." Elizabeth agreed. "The pilot? That poor boy has been warped and twisted to think he is serving X-Com, but he is a slave now." She looked at Alley, and her eyes held horror. "You are his only chance. His and Maya's."

"And Lizbeth?" Alley asked.

"I tried to help her." Elizabeth said quietly. "I took her home and we tried everything we knew and then everything we could beg, borrow or steal. It wasn't enough. What he did to her broke something inside her, something not physical, and it isn't something we can fix. No matter how I search, how hard I try, I cannot fix what he destroyed. I cannot replace what he tore out. He took her love and turned it into hate. Ending her pain may be the only merciful thing to do." That clearly hurt her to say.

"No." Alley said slowly. "There has to be another way. Yes, what she has done is evil, but if she was warped into this, then she can be helped."

"Alley, we tried everything I could think of and then some." Elizabeth bowed her head. "Nothing worked. I am not omniscient but the only thing that might work is a mindwipe and then, she won't be who she is now. She will likely be looking for Cathi again and God only knows what might happen then."

"This 'Cathi' was missing?" Alley asked and Elizabeth nodded. "Now?"

"She was found and it was a mess, but she is safe." Elizabeth sighed deeply. "Or, as safe as any. All of the various me who were looking for her were told and can get on with their lives." That made little sense to Alley, but she just rolled with it. "Most of them. Some are like Lizbeth, broken."

"Just like the world we live in." Alley said softly. "You were to going to get the information on the poison. Did you?"

"I did." Elizabeth smiled a little sadly. "Again, it was a mess since the base was filled with his zombies, but Jane got away. They got the antidote to Milodi in time. She will take some time to recover, but she is alive."

"Good." Alley smiled and then sobered. "So… what now? Lizbeth is a threat, but as you say, she is a girl who was tormented. I can only imagine what the Warlock did to her. I only touched his mind in passing and it hurt."

"We saw it all when we tried to help her." Elizabeth looked sick and Alley could sympathize. "Alley, killing her is-" She broke off as Alley glared at her.

"Stop." Alley said without heat. "Manipulating me and Jane into bonding was one thing. We both like each other ad we can help each other. Manipulating me to try and save your sister is beyond the pale after she attacked me and Jane. What does her master want Jane for, anyway?"

"Bride of Frankenstein." Elizabeth replied and Alley felt her guts clench all over again. "And no, she escaped. _She_ is not the problem. _Jian_ has lost her temper and all hell is about to break loose."

"He wants Jane as a _wife?" _Alley demanded, fury and horror mixing. _"_What is he… nuts?"

"Yeah, that _is_ nuts. Technically, she would be his liaison to humanity. To rule in his stead, to put on the appearance of normalcy." Elizabeth replied. "She would be his Speaker. She would be far easier to deal with that the other one and with her reputation? Who would dare argue with her?"

"Bradford." Alley said dryly and Elizabeth smiled. Said smile fell.

"Point." Elizabeth sighed. "Alley, I am what I am. I have been what I am for a long, long time. I am an Empress, a puppet mistress. I push things from the shadows when I cannot act directly. I have done good _and_ evil. Pushing you and Jane together seemed the best possible solution when I realized that Lizbeth's master wanted Jane. You and Jane together can do _anything_." She looked away. "I want to save Lizbeth, but I have no right to push you into doing anything. The Lady is right. I have interfered here far more than I had any right to. I brought Jian here and that will cause far more of a mess than even I did. _All_ that I ask is that you show Lizbeth mercy. If said mercy is a quick death, then I and mine will accept that. If, by some miracle, you find a better way, then count me in your debt now and forever, Alley."

She bowed to the snake woman, her bow deep and formal. Alley looked at her and then at the Avatar.

"We need to get out of here." Alley said after a moment. "You can't help, can you?"

"No." Elizabeth shook her head. "Once this time bubble expires, I have to go. The Lady's patience has been strained overtime by all of what I did. What Jian is going to do will push her into a rage."

"Jian?" Alley inquired. "What has she done?'

"Jian feels a debt of honor to you and to Jane." Elizabeth said with a shrug. "Her kind take such things very seriously. You know the type. Oshina protected your nest while you grew up." At that Alley went totally still and Elizabeth nodded. "Such rigid senses of honor are hard to maintain, but those who do are incredibly focused and incredibly _dangerous_. Jian just called in an _army_ to rescue you and made _Jane_ its commander." Alley's eyes went huge at that and Elizabeth grinned. "Before that? Jian lost patience and took the Speaker _hostage_ to assure Advent's cooperation."

"Oh?" Alley was almost punch drunk now.

"The Speaker wants your ability to repair _another_ Avatar. He thinks you can bring the Elders back if you do that. Well, you and Mina." Elizabeth made a face as Alley hissed. "Mina is safe. Maya is not."

"I figured it was something like that. Moron." Alley groused. "Where is Maya?"

"Left. Two doors down the hall. The boy is there too. Alley..." Elizabeth paused Alley tensed. "Be careful and trust your heart. I hope… I hope to talk to you again someday."

"I will do what I can for your sister, Elizabeth. But right now?" Alley slid low to the ground, readying herself. "I need to get out of this room."

"The door is now unlocked." Elizabeth smiled grimly as golden energy flared around said door. "Make it hurt."

With that, the golden energy around Alley faded. Elizabeth did too just as the Avatar threw a bolt of energy at her. Wrong target. Alley slid right past him even as he tried to correct his aim and she was out the door before he could act. She didn't bother locking the door. He was far too powerful to be stopped by a locked door. One door, two doors, she slapped that door open and slid into the room only to stop short. Maya slept in her tube nest to a bed in which a familiar young man lay. The pilot did not sleep soundly. He was tossing and turning, restrained to the bed. An odd helmet was strapped to his head, but it was the monitor attached to Maya's tube that had Alley suddenly freezing in place.

The name emblazoned on the monitor was 'Maya Parker'.

Suddenly, things started to make sense to Alley. Once, while Alley and Jane had been talking, the conversation had turned to family. Alley's partner Mark had died as a result of a bad decision that the man who had sired him had made. Even with all of the rage, pain and grief that had come of that, Alley had worked to talk to the man, despite his bone deep hatred for extra-terrestrials. She hadn't wanted to give him power over her and in that talk, she had realized that he too was hurting. He would likely never be released from prison after other crimes he had committed had come out, but he wasn't at heart a bad man, just driven.

This base was an X-Com facility. It was secret from everyone. Even X-Com! Now, who could have done such a thing and not left any records _anywhere? _An X-Com operative and not just _any. _Someone who was driven to find something she had lost. No, _someone__s _she had lost. The Viper looked to the side and her guts roiled as she saw a human brain sitting in a vat of chemicals against one wall. A cloned brain and not just _any_.

_Trust my heart..._

"I am an idiot." Alley said mildly as she rose to her full height. She made sure her hands were still and her crest was relaxed. She was in danger now, but she understood. Did she ever. A mother's love truly knew no bounds. "I won't hurt her or him. You have my word."

"I..." A hesitant female voice sounded from a speaker by the vat. "They said your name is Alley. Did I know you? I don't remember. I don't remember a lot."

"We never met, but I know Jane." Alley replied. "It isn't your fault. He took this place, didn't he? He took you, didn't he?"

"It hurt." The voice was soft, scared. "I was supposed to guard it and I failed! It hurt so bad and I couldn't fight him! I tried to!"

"I know." Alley sighed. "I touched his mind once in passing and it hurt like hell." The Avatar ran in and came to a sudden halt as it took in the scene. Alley glared at it, but her words were to the brain in the vat. To the mind that had been ensconced in this base by her masters. Her X-Com masters!

"It is all right, Jenni. It is going to be all right."


	17. Chapter 17

**Maximum velocity**

Alley didn't move as the avatar stared at her. Then she sighed and slithered a bit forward to stare at Maya's tube. What she saw made her blood freeze and then start to boil. She could sense microscopic machines in the tube with Maya and if they were anything like Jane had described? They would break the girl's body down into its DNA. There was no way for a human to survive that. That was how the Elders had manufactured the Avatars, using harvested human DNA from selected victims. Alley looked at the tube and then at the brain. When she spoke again, it was calm. But not.

"You want me alive. I am under no such compunction." The Viper said as she laid a hand against the tube and shifted the chemicals a bit, stymied the nanobots of a time. It wouldn't last, but Maya would live for a few minutes. "You will stop what you are doing to Maya. Now."

That was a command. The Avatar just looked at her.

"You are in no position to give orders." The voice from the armored alien was angry, but also wary. As well it should be. Angry Vipers were no joke. _Alley_ angry was an order of magnitude worse. There were very few things that she could not do when she had time to peruse the bonds that held molecules together. Especially since she had recently been studying how to do it on the atomic level instead of molecular. It was just a matter of scale and being able to perceive what she wanted to do. She could use psionics to manipulate the atoms as she desired and that made for 'interesting' times. Terrifying times.

"Neither are you." Alley replied, almost off hand as she moved to the bed and laid a hand on the human lying there. What she found when she scanned his body made her even angrier. His body was at war with his mind, both of them in a state of flux generated by psionic power that she recognized from the armored form that blocked the door. "I know what you are thinking. Here, I am, I am all alone and unarmed. I am sure you have troops in this base. I am sure they are converging on this room as we speak." When she turned back to the Avatar, her smile was cold, deadly thing. "But my powers have been enhanced through study recently. The air in here is Earth normal. Oxygen, nitrogen, argon and other trace elements. The fluid in Maya's tank is a mix of chemicals and water." She clenched fist and a 'crack' sounded! Maya's tank had sprung a leak! Fluid sprayed across the floor. Alley shook her head. "Water is so much fun. Hydrogen and oxygen. Which I just split some of." The voice from the brain gasped as a loud hiss sounded that had nothing to do with snakes! Alley nodded, but did not take her eyes from the Avatar. "Tell me, monster. Do you know what happens when hydrogen is fused at the atomic level?"

At that, everything seemed to stop. As well it should. That reaction was one of the things that happened in the Sun that gave Earth its life giving light and heat! The word 'bang' would pretty much apply if such happened in this place. Not a _small_ bang either. Especially since Alley's splitting had released clouds of oxygen which was extremely flammable in high concentrations like she had concentrate din parts of this room. The words 'fuel air explosive' and 'firestorm' had been coined for just such situations.

"You wouldn't." The Avatar said very slowly.

"Try me." Alley smirked at him. "I know how many hydrogen atoms it takes to make critical mass and you have more than enough in here to do just that. It would be a very _s__mall_ nuclear detonation, but it would be more than enough to turn this entire base and everyone in it into slag." She stood there as the Avatar stared at her. "Maybe you can stop such a thing, maybe you can't. But given that that a nuclear explosion in here will leave nothing but a faint atomic residue, you have to ask yourself. 'Am I feeling lucky?'" At that, Jenni laughed, pure delight sounding. "Well, are you? Go ahead, punk. Make my day!"

"The words 'small' and 'nuclear' do not generally go together." Jenni's voice was amused. "Quoting Eastwood? You are crazy, Alley. I like you." Her amusement faded. "Please? Kill me. That is the best way to stop this!"

"You are mine!" The Avatar said sharply. "You are all mine!"

"Get. Out." Alley snapped at the Avatar as she turned back to the vat. Her power was rebuffed somehow. She had no idea how.

"You cannot hold such power forever." The Avatar said slowly. "You will fall unconscious."

"Yeah, then you can do whatever you want." Alley shrugged. "But you don't have that kind of time, I don't think. You wanted Jane? I hear she is on her way with a few friends." A gasp came from Jenni and Alley continued. "You won't like what happens when she gets here."

"Lizbeth can and will stop you." The Avatar snapped.

"Good luck waking her up." Alley retorted. "You are going to need it." Considering that Alley had hit the woman with a dose of a sedative that might have dropped a Muton? Oh yeah. She wasn't going to wake up until Alley neutralized it. Psionics were good for a lot of things, but Lizbeth wasn't a psionic and Alley had taken her by surprise. "Get out."

The snake moved to Maya's tube and laid a hand against it. The super hard transparent plastic melted under her molecular power and the fluid inside vanished as well. Alley reached in and pulled Maya out, checking her automatically. The girl seemed none the worse for wear, minus a few cellular injuries caused by the nanobots that Alley set her power to healing. Whoever had put Maya in the tube had clothed her for modesty purposes at least, so Alley was not distressed but so much as she laid Maya on the bed beside the pilot. She glared at the Avatar who seemed frozen and then ignored it to focus on the pilot. A quick flip shut the helmet thing down and Alley checked him for other injuries. He was uninjured, but very stressed. He wasn't awake, so Alley focused on Maya again.

"How is she?" Jenni's voice was sharp with fear. "I am no medic. I do not understand all of what the sensors told me."

"She is alive." Alley reassured the other. "This is odd, however. I cannot read her mind." Jenni gasped and Alley was quick to reassure. "She is okay, I just cannot read her mind. It is like her mind is somewhere else."

"It is." The voice of the pilot had Alley backing off a bit as his eyes flew open. He stared around wildly and then focused on Alley. "Ah, Slither?" The pain in his tone was heartbreaking. "No… No, she died..." He said weakly. "I… I can't… It's not me! I am not- NO!"

Alley jerked back as power flared around him, purplish power. She spun to glare at the Avatar who stood just inside the door. The Avatar did not react as the pilot slumped to the bed, his eyes shutting.

"Not him." Alley said as power flared anew around the pilot and he was suddenly encased in a shimmering veil of purple energy. "I see." She looked at the Avatar and then at the brain in the vat. "And where in X-Com's charter does it say 'kidnap people to enslave them', Jenni?" She shook her head. "If you really _are_ Jenni."

"I am not. I am a copy. There are things that should never be done." The voice of the other was resigned now. "Jenni Parker broke a lot of rules. It was a war for survival, so she had no regrets but she didn't know about this. No one did. Not until she was harvested to make me and even then? She didn't remember it."

"This was all X-Com, wasn't it?" Alley asked softly.

"Yes. I had to clean up the mess she made and try to find my girls." Jenni replied. "Then _he_ came and it hurt and I cannot... Stop me, Alley! Please stop me! I cannot stop myself!" Purple energy flared and a scream came from the speaker. Alley turned to see the Avatar's hand raised, limned with psionic power.

"Know your place, slave." Came from the Avatar. The purple faceplate turned to Alley and then paused as Alley shook her head. "What?" The Avatar demanded.

"Goodbye." Alley turned away as her power snapped out to touch the avatar whose psionic power faded. A gasp came from Jenni as the Avatar started to melt! A gurgling scream came from the Avatar but Alley focused on the two human forms in the bed. Power snapped out, but Alley ignored it even as it lashed her, hurt her. She healed the damage with a thought as the power assailing her faltered. Then the scream faded in a wave of bubbles and still, Alley did not look.

"What did you do?" Terror sang in Jenni's voice.

"Molecular bonds are molecular bonds." Alley replied, her focus on Maya. "Be it water or Elder manufactured psionically charged armor, the result is the same if something dissolves said bonds."

"You..." The voice gulped. "You turned the Avatar into a puddle of goo."

"It may be able to reconstitute even from that." Alley warned as she laid a hand on Maya's still forehead. She felt nothing from the girl. "If so? It will take a while."

"That had to hurt." Jenni said and then snarled. "Good. Please? Please kill me! I don't want to hurt my little girl!"

"I can't kill you, Jenni." Alley said quietly. "When you asked first, I tried to dissolve the vat and I can't." Jenni heaved a sob and Alley bowed her head. "It must be protected even from my powers."

"They tried to be thorough. No weapons or psionics will work on it." Jenni's voice held hate now. "My superiors promised me that I would be safe here while I looked for my girls. While I tried to seal the breach I had made."

"'Breach'?" Alley inquired as she turned to the vat.

"There was a massive temporal anomaly that threatened all life, human and Elder servant alike." The voice of the slain warrior said quietly. "That was the first and as far as I know, the only time that X-Com worked with the Elder's forces. A hybrid named Hiloria Mox stopped the temporal anomaly, but it cost her life."

"Doctor Cooper said that name." Alley said slowly. "Called her a friend."

"So did Jenni." The voice from the vat was sad now. So sad. "She, I, was incredibly powerful, but I wasn't trained! I had no idea what I was doing much of the time! I was operating on instinct for much of it and I hurt so many people. If not for Jane, I would have lost it completely. I was the only one who could do it, stop the enemy in case Hiloria failed. Hiloria asked me to shift the area she fought in out of space and time. I did and I made a hell of a mess." Shame warred with regret. "I was so angry, so lost..."

"What happened to your girls?" Alley asked as she coiled up beside the bed, her hand on Maya's head still. "And… Their dad?"

"Their dad just vanished one day." Jenni said very quietly. "He went out scavenging and didn't come back. We waited for a week, but we had laid plans in such a case and we did what we had planned. The girls and I bounced from camp to camp, trying to stay ahead of Advent sweeps and one day? We were too slow."

"I am sorry." Alley said that and meant it.

"The place they took us was a holding facility. Some kind of research base." Jenni's voice was soft with remembered fear and pain. "They were not rough, but we couldn't leave. They treated us fairly well, but we were prisoners. They kept us together and their docs did bunch of tests. On me and the girls. Even when I fought, they just drugged me and did them anyway. Then one day when I woke up? The girls were gone."

"Oh, Jenni." Alley sighed as Jenni started to cry. "I want to hold you and I can't. All I can say is I am sorry."

"If not for Jane, I would have gone completely nuts." Jenni said weakly. "She came! She was so brave! So strong and I loved her from the moment I saw her. She was a true Valkyrie and I thought she had come to take me to Valhalla at first, but she was so kind."

"When she can be, yes." Alley agreed, a soft, sad smile creasing her own face as she thought of her partner. "What is the facility doing to this poor boy?"

It cannot pull people across the barriers between realities." Jenni said quietly and Alley felt her guts clench at that. "It can pull _things_ and it did. It pulled a fighter ship from a reality very different from our own, but similar enough that X-Com recognized it and stored it here. When the Warlock took the place, he started subverting it, trying to turn it into a base for his planned conquest. X-Com's security systems defined the word paranoid and it took a long time for his worms to make their way in, but eventually, even the robust systems here were broken. The ship needed a pilot and the systems selected the best one they could find, making a copy of his mind and altering it to fit the ship. The Warlock just added some finesse to X-Com's brutality, making it easier to steal a slave."

"He is dead, Jenni." Alley protested. "You were there!"

"I _know!_" Jenni all but screamed that. "But when I was sent here, when this… this parody of me was sent here, his infiltration had been ongoing for some time and no one knew! I woke up under control of his worms! Everything here was all automated! So was his assault! He had it all set up to wait for a time, until suspicion had faded, then strike. Advent would fall to his coup, then the humans would fall. X-Com has no chance against someone with all of their secrets and _I cannot stop myself!_" Now Jenni was sobbing. "The program just sent the pilot to hurt my little girls! Please Alley! Kill me!"

"I can't Jenni." Alley said softly. "Even if I could? What right have I to harm one who has done no harm to me by her own will?"

"Alley! He is starting his pre-flight! He is five minutes from launch! His target is the Avenger and the base where Mina is!" A rumble sounded and Alley shook her head. "Please! Do something!"

"I will." Alley said very quietly. "But if _I_ cannot fix this and _you_ cannot fix this… I think I know someone who _can_."

* * *

Two and a half minutes later

"_YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!_" Jenni's voice was a full on scream as Alley carried Lizbeth into the room where Maya and the pilot lay on the bed.

"He broke her too." Alley said quietly as she shifted a bit, easing the unconscious woman in her grip. "Is there another bed?"

"She is a _monster!_" Jenni shouted and Alley shook her head.

"You don't need to be so loud. I am a monster too." Alley's retort had the slain woman's ghost suddenly choke off. "I wish Aroa was here. She is our psychologist. She would be able to understand what has been done and why, but I can probably muddle through." A panel slid out for one wall, a hard bunk. Alley laid Lizbeth down on it and shook her head. "I cannot undo what was done, but I can feel her needs. She is an addict, probably one way he broke her. I can't fix that, but I know someone who _can_."

She focused her mind as she had very few times and cast out with it. An incredulous touch came back to her and she smiled as a yellow holographic form appeared in front of her. Before the Lady could speak, Alley did.

"Beware, Lady! This was the Warlock's base! He has to have laid traps for your kind!" The yellow Ethereal stared at Alley and then at the scene. The vat with its brain. The melted tank. The human pilot in his energy shell. Lizbeth and Maya sleeping. When she spoke, the Lady was darkly amused.

"Always the _hard_ way, huh, Alley?" The lady was wary. As well she should be.

"I destroyed the Avatar that the Warlock apparently had stored here as a failsafe. Maybe permanently, maybe not." Alley said quickly. "I think I know what is happening and why, but we need to accelerate. I may be able to fix this, but I need to consult and we have, at best a minute and half real time before the fighter launches again and this time, he will kill everything he can range on."

Instead of answering, the room turned yellow and the Ethereal seemed to wilt in mid-air.

"Talk fast, Alley." The Lady said weakly. "Even I cannot hold this but so long." Instead of answering with speech, Alley sent a stream of her recent memories to the hovering yellow form in a gentle wave. Much faster than limited human vocal tones. The Ethereal chuckled. "You _have_ been studying, haven't… you..." She trailed off with a horrified gasp. "_Jenni?_"

She had known Jenni. The Lady had met Jenni and from what Alley had heard from Jane and others? Liked the psi if not trusted her.

"Lady, I am sorry!" The voice from the vat was sad. So sad. "I made such a mess!"

"Not just you, it seems." The Ethereal said softly. "Alley… Are you sure? Lizbeth may have been broken into this role, but now she is a willing participant in what has and is happening."

"I know." Alley replied. "Which is why I am not going to free her." At that, both other females gasped. "I am going to take her myself."

"_ALLEY!_" The Lady inhaled in shock. "You are not that kind of being!"

"It is the only way." Alley said sadly. "If she is what I believe, then even killing her won't help, will it?"

"From what I sense? No, just like Elizabeth, she is a true immortal. Kill her and she will likely come back, maybe even crazier as hard as that is to imagine." The Lady said weakly. "Alley… If you _do_ that… That is a _very_ slippery slope."

"I know." Alley said sadly. "But if we cannot stop that attack ship, he will find you eventually. At the very least, he is going to attack the Avenger and the base where the kids are. No. They have suffered enough." She shook her head. "I will not allow it. I will need help. I will need guidance and to consult while I act. She is addicted to several drugs of Elder manufacture and from what I can tell? Dependent to psi power as well. I can do this and I will. Maybe… maybe with time, I can help her? Maybe. Right now, we do not have time."

"I will help you." The Lady said heavily. "I will hate myself, but I will help you. _We_ will help you."

"No more than I will hate myself." Alley said as she focused her will and threw herself into the slumbering woman's mind.

Not to free her.

To enslave her.


	18. Chapter 18

**Controls**

Alley fell into open sky and immediately focused her mind. She was falling into her adversary's mind and this was an incredibly dangerous place even discounting Lizbeth's demonstrated power. Anyone's mind was-

"Hey!" A young voice sounded nearby and Alley stared as a small winged _horse_ appeared flying beside her. "You are not supposed to be here." The horse was gold and a white mane and tail. Was this a palomino? She had heard of that, but never seen one. The pegasus' wings had golden feathers that matched the coat.

"No?" Alley inquired as she flared her body as best she could to slow her headlong plummet. "I am not even sure where 'here' is."

She kept her tone mild and calm as the pegagus eyed her. She looked around, but there were not any landmarks. Nothing but clear sky all around her. She had to be falling towards _something _but there was nothing that she could see.

"Really?" The pegasus put a ton of derision into that one word. "You are Alley. The alien." Her tone was odd. Hate, to be sure. Fear. Regret mixed with longing and just a tiny touch of hope.

"And you are Lizbeth, the crazy bitch." Alley retorted, still calm. She angled her body to alter her fall and slid away from the horse. Far from insulted, the pegasus looked sad.

"Yeah." The wings flapped once, twice, to stay with Alley. "Yeah, I am. I… I didn't mean this to happen, you know?" She sounded so lost and alone for a moment that Alley felt her heart start to break. The Viper stepped on that, hard.

"Whether you meant it to happen or not, it did." Alley said firmly. "You have suffered and I am sorry for that, but I cannot allow you to kill children. A number of human children are going to die if that pilot launches."

"I know." Lizbeth said weakly. "But I can't stop it."

"Sure you can." Alley retorted. "You just don't _want_ to." Alley did not react as the horse hissed at her. "Don't even try girl, I know some of what you went through and I met the Warlock. I can guess the rest." The horse looked thunderous, but Alley was unmoved. "If you know nothing else about me, then you know what the Elders did to me and my nest."

Her own hot glare was just as fervent as Lizbeth's and the pegasus was the first to look away.

The sheer horror of what had been done to Alley's nest was hard to fathom. The taking of injured children and brainwashing them to serve the Elders who had killed their parents and injured them had been bad enough. Implanting each human with a biological weapon of mass destruction had been worse, far worse. Then the fact that the weapon wasn't perfect and killed them every so often. So, they had been in pain their entire lives and watching their numbers slowly dwindle with no understanding of why or any way to stop it. Only the tough love of the Muton who had reluctantly taken the role of their Mother and their shared bond of pain had kept any of them sane.

"I… I do." Lizbeth allowed. "For what is worth, I am sorry for that. The Elders were evil."

"That they were." Alley agreed. "But so are you."

"NO I AM NOT!" Lizbeth screamed. "You think I had a choice? He had me! He knew what I was and he had me! He tortured me for weeks! He nearly killed me dozens of times and I woke up from that each time to see his gloating face, to have him to do it again!"

"There are always choices, girl." Alley replied, still angling away from the pegasus. She would likely only get one shot at this, she had to make it count. "There are always alternatives. You are not entirely lost to your evil and I do know what it is like to be tortured, so you have my sympathy. However, I need you so, I choose a different alternative."

"What?" Lizbeth's form seemed to hesitate in mid-air and Alley struck.

Lizbeth screamed as Alley's tongue wrapped around her form, binding her wings to her sides. The Viper pulled the struggling horse close and unhinged her jaw. She opened her mouth wide and Lizbeth screamed again and again as Alley swallowed her whole.

The world shifted and Alley sat up straight beside a bed where Lizbeth lay writhing. The hospital room was bright and airy, but felt closed in and almost claustrophobic. The girl, she was maybe fifteen, wore a patient gown and was strapped to the bed. Her blonde hair was cut very close to her scalp, the better to keep it clean and allow access to her head.

"No no no nononononononono!" Lizbeth moaned as Alley reached out and laid her hands against the girl's temples. "Don't!"

"I have few choices now, girl." Alley said sadly. "I swear to you, I will not kill you. I will not torture you. I will not _hurt_ you unless you earn it. I will do what I can to help you but right now? I need _your_ help and you will not give it willingly. So I have to take it. This is wrong." Alley admitted. "But what you plan to do is worse. The Avatar is destroyed. If I can, I will free you from the horror he did to you."

"He... It is destroyed?" Lizbeth asked, stunned. "That is not possible!"

"Nothing is impossible, girl." Alley said kindly as her hands warmed. "Nothing at all."

Then Lizbeth's screams drowned out everything as Alley reached into her mind and twisted _hard_. She felt a set of psychic chains shatter and was ready when Lizbeth recoiled. Her own chains snapped into place and Lizbeth's eyes were huge as Alley retracted her hands.

"You..." The girl's voice was stunned. "What have you done?" Alley just looked at her and Lizbeth growled, a feral sound of rage. She hawked and spat at Alley and her aim was true. The globule hit the snake in the face. "Do you really think this will stop me?"

"Wrong question." Alley did not react, did not punish the girl. Instead, she started to release the straps that held Lizbeth. Power flared from Lizbeth's hands as soon as they were free. It lashed out at Alley, but could not touch her. Lizbeth screamed in rage and shock and the power faded

"What have you _done?_" Lizbeth demanded, staring at the snake woman as Alley released her completely. "I..." She gathered power again and threw it at Alley, who stood silent as it rebounded and struck Lizbeth! She screamed and the power faded. Then she stared at her hand.

"Did you really think I would be that stupid?" Alley inquired, her tone cold. "To let you loose with no restraint whatsoever? I will not be as brutal as the Warlock was but I have many lives riding on my decisions now. Not just yours." She wiped her face with a slow hand. "I know this is a shock, but I do not have time to do this gently and less desire to after the pain you have caused me. Kneel."

"No." Lizbeth started to sneer and then gasped as her knees folded and she was on the floor kneeling in front of Alley! "What? No! _NO!_" She screamed and struggled, but Alley's will held her firm. A wave from Alley and Lizbeth's mouth shut. From the look on her face, she was screaming, but no sound would come until Alley wished it. Alley laid her hands on the kneeling woman's head, solidifying her hold despite Lizbeth's frantic struggles that were in no way physical.

"I find the whole concept of _owning_ others utterly repugnant after what my nest went through." Alley said with a growl. "A cursory glance at human history shows that it was a normal state of affairs until the dawn of the nineteenth century and even then? It took over a hundred years for most European countries to have any semblance of Civil Rights for many of their inhabitants and even then? It varied from place to place and was never all of said inhabitants. Most other regions outside of Europe couldn't have cared less. Even in the most forward thinking places, there were pockets of hate. That is what racism is, at its core. Hate and fear. It is also apparently the way humans are wired to _think_." The snake shook her head. "'Us' and 'them'. 'We' are better than 'them' because 'we' _are_. Little things like morals, ethics or even _facts_ are irrelevant when we are better than everyone else. The Germans got the worst press about that and yes, it was deserved after what was done during World War II, but _everyone_ did it. No one's hands were clean. _Every_ _single_ country on Earth had its 'undesirables', its 'unclean', its 'ghetto children'. No one was above such evil. _No one_. Some were just better at hiding the body counts under layers of statistics. After all, why _bother_ educating people, teaching them right from wrong, when you _know_ that they are not as good as you are? Who cares if the whole reason they are not good is that _y__o__u will no__t__ let them be_? If they are not of you, then it is not only accepted practice to put them down or just kill them, but _encouraged!_" She shook her head. "What the Elders did in coming here and conquering this planet was wrong. But they did a few things _right_. Making all humans the same no matter what ancestry, gender, skin color or sexual preference was actually a _good_ thing. Kidnapping into prostitution _didn't happen!_ Hate crimes _didn't happen_. School shootings _didn't happen!_ Theft _didn't happen!_" Alley fought to pass her rage and managed, kept from hurting the now slack jawed girl by sheer force of will.

"Because no one was free!" Lizbeth managed to croak that out.

"Bingo." Alley looked away from the girl and Lizbeth stared at her. "Freedom is no blessing sometimes. On our last mission for the Elders, the nest found a girl who was not much older than you appear to be. She was suffering from extreme pneumonia. Terminal." Lizbeth opened her mouth, but Alley waved and it shut again, clearly without her consent. "She was dying and there was nothing any of us could do. She was free, yes. She was free to _die_ and take her unborn child with her!" The last had Lizbeth freezing. "We wanted to save her. We tried to save them both. We failed. Life is not fair, Lizbeth! If it was, that girl and her baby would still be alive. The Elders never would have come to this planet. I never would have been made, never..." She choked for a moment and then continued. "...never would have met and loved Mark." Pain sang in Alley's tone and Lizbeth stared at her, wide eyed. "What happened to you was horrible, Lizbeth, I am not discounting that. I am truly sorry and someday, maybe, I will be able to help you. For now? We have to deal with the now." Her tone hardened. "_We_ _will_ deal with the now."

"I won't serve you!" Lizbeth snarled. "I won't!"

"Yes, you will." Alley finished what she was doing and sat back, her rage now spent and only sorrow showing. "You now belong to _me_."

* * *

Reality

Lizbeth woke up with a scream but a look from Alley had her freezing.

"You can't do this to me." Lizbeth said weakly as Alley released her mind, but only partway. Alley did not deign to respond and Lizbeth snarled at her. "_You can't do this to me!_"

"I think she can." Came a subdued voice from the vat. "She has the power and the moral responsibility to do what is right, not just what is needed."

"_I command you to stop her! Kill her!_" Lizbeth shouted and then screamed as feedback flared across the link Alley had forged in her mind. A fairly gentle push. Alley didn't have to be gentle. "What?"

"You were never in command here." The voice of the slain X-Com operative was cold now. "He was." Lizbeth looked confused and Alley waved towards the puddle that still graced the floor. The puddle that had been a damaged Avatar. Lizbeth stared at it and then at Alley. Jenni's voice turned snide. "He thought to control her with fear. That was dumb. She knows fear and pain on a level that few do. You might, but few others."

"You… know... nothing!" Lizbeth snarled and tried to sit up, but a glance from Alley and she lay back down. "What? NO!"

"Don't fight it." Alley warned as Lizbeth's face contorted in a rictus of rage. "It will hurt."

"_You are just a filthy X-Ray! You don't-_" Lizbeth broke off with a scream as she tried to sit up again and then fell over, clutching her head.

"I warned you." Alley said mildly as Lizbeth moaned. "I didn't need to. If I were a _human_ slave-owner, I am sure I would be getting a whip or something out right now. I am not human. I will not be cruel simply for the sake of being cruel, but I will not tolerate disobedience either." She laid a hand on Lizbeth's head and shook her head as Lizbeth tried to twist and bite her hand. "Idiot girl."

A pulse of power shocked Lizbeth and she slammed back to the bunk, her face slack. "I… What?"

"I stimulated the pleasure center of your brain. Same as your master did. You desire the feeling." Alley said quietly. "You are in withdrawal from other things. I have no time and less inclination to coddle you." Steel would have bent under her calm words. "I know people who can help you, but that is for later. Right now, you _will_ stop the pilot."

"I can't." Lizbeth said softly and Alley stared at her. "Once he is launched, he is autonomous. He comes back when his mission is done." Alley growled and Lizbeth shook her head savagely. "That is the truth!"

It was. There was literally no way for Lizbeth to lie to Alley now as tightly as the Viper had the woman bound. What she had said was the truth, but not the whole truth, Alley realized as Lizbeth stared at her.

"You have a means to bring him back." Alley said very softly as Lizbeth's face turned pale. "The Warlock or X-Com, neither of them were so ignorant as to make such a weapon and allow no means of stopping it. That ship's weapons are _intended_ to kill psis, so the Warlock _had_ to have a means of stopping him." Lizbeth's face shut down and Alley shook her head. "How?"

"Wouldn't _you_ love to- Urk!" Lizbeth's snide words cut out as Alley's controls pushed past her resistance with hardly any effort at all and dove deep into her mind. She writhed, tried to fight and Alley took complete control of her, silencing her and stilling her with a thought.

"Huh." Alley mused as she rummaged through Lizbeth's mind. "The Avatar couldn't access the machinery here. He needed you." She glanced at the vat and then back at Lizbeth whose face was strained with fruitless effort. She was no psi. There was no way she was getting loose from Alley. "Jenni? Can you access Hangar Three?"

"There are only two." Jenni said weakly. "The fighter hangar and a shuttle hangar."

"There is a third." Alley corrected her grimly. "But the ship in there is nothing like I have seen before." She tilted her head at Lizbeth. "What _is_ a Veritech?"

"_Get out of my head!_" Lizbeth tried to scream that but Alley only let her grate the words out.

"My commanders had secrets within secrets." Jenni sounded upset, and who could blame her? "But even if there is another ship, I cannot fly it. Can you?"

"No." Alley replied. "But Lizbeth can. She brought it here."

"I won't!" Lizbeth snarled.

"Yes, you will." Alley replied as Lizbeth's face suddenly went slack again. "We do not have time to argue or for another pilot to train in it. You are going to fly it and you will bring that pilot back."

The sound of gunfire in the hall had Alley recoiling. She spun towards the door as it slammed open and Jane ran in, followed by four forms in blue armor. All four of the other women were huffing and puffing, clearly from trying to keep up with the furious ranger. Jane wore her usual combat load, Warden armor with Storm Gun and fusion blade. From the look of her? She had seen action. Lots of it. She stopped short, staring at Alley.

"Commander! Slow down!" One of them managed as Alley gawked at the quartet. All of them had a red snake emblazoned on the front of their armor. None of them were happy with Jane. "This area is _not_ secure!"

All four of them stopped just as short as Jane had on seeing Alley. Were they about to _salute? _A pulse to Jenni said warned the ghost woman to remain silent. If Jane heard that voice, all hell would break loose. They did not have time for such now. Later. If there _was _a later.

"_Alley?_" Jane took in the scene at a glance and then aimed at Lizbeth. "_You!_"

"We need her, Jane." Alley said slowly. "She can stop the ship that just launched."

"Damn! Was hoping to catch him on the ground." Jane looked at where the pilot lay beside Maya, his form still encased in energy. "And… huh?" She asked intelligently.

"Maya's body is alive." Alley reassured her partner. "Her mind isn't in it." Jane shook her head. "Long story I bet." At that, Jane nodded, a faint smile creasing her features. "I do not know what Lizbeth and the Avatar did to this guy. He is acting like Maya's brother. He isn't though."

"Too old and Sam's body just died." Jane was angry again. She aimed at Lizbeth. "Let me shoot her!"

"No." Alley replied. "Jane, she wants death. She is insane. I refuse to give her what she wants." Lizbeth opened her mouth and Alley backhanded her without looking. "Be! Silent!"

"Alley?" Jane asked, her tone suddenly worried. "What happened?"

"We need her." Alley said sadly. "I… I took her, Jane. I took control of her." She slumped as Jane gawked at her. "I… I feel so wrong, but it was needed."

"Oh, Alley." Jane sighed deeply and lowered her weapon. She gave herself a shake. "What do you need?" Alley smiled at Jane but when she smiled at Lizbeth, it was savage.

"Me? A big charge of explosives to put under the seat of her Veritech."

* * *

**Most people probably won't know what a Veritech is- wiki/VF-1_Valkyrie**


	19. Chapter 19

**Spins**

Alley knew this was bad. She had no illusions about that. She stood in an armored bunker with the four guards and Jane as the odd group watched Lizbeth do a painstaking preflight. Jane hadn't spoken since Lizbeth had started to do what Alley commanded. Since she had realized exactly what Alley had done.

That was fine. Alley had no idea what she would say. 'I am sorry' just didn't cut it. Especially since she _wasn't_.

Yes, the odd pilot in his odder ship needed to be stopped. Lizbeth had a ship of her own and it too was space capable. It wasn't supra-light capable in the same way as the other, but according to what Alley had dredged up from Lizbeth's mind, the girl could make it do short range hops across some kind of barrier that would mimic such flight, allowing her to travel far faster and further than even the X-Com craft could. Its weapons were a match for the other and he would not be expecting an attack from that direction. They had a chance, which was more than could be said before. Lizbeth may have been a good person once, but now? She was an evil bitch and Alley was truly sickened by what she had found in the girl's mind.

"Matron." Jian had arrived shortly after Jane and her face said it all. She knew. She understood and she did not blame Alley like Jane did. Could she? Alley wasn't sure if Jian could actually argue with Alley. If not? That was whole other can of...well, something nasty. She was trying patch things up between Jane and Alley. As far as Alley was concerned? They couldn't be. Alley had done something truly evil. Unspeakably evil. It was needed, but that did not excuse it. Whatever the warrior was going to say next broke off when Alley waved a little.

"No, Jian." Alley said very quietly, not looking away from where Lizbeth was finishing up. "We have time, but not a lot. If he follows the same procedures as before, he will make four jumps before coming back in system. His first targets will be the X-Com Avenger and the Gobi base." Jian nodded, her face set. She had not moved from standing between Jane and Alley. She was trying to keep the peace. "Then Cydonia."

Everyone winced at that. It hadn't really been a surprise to anyone that the Lady had put her base on Mars. The 'where' on Mars had been a bit of a shock. It had taken even this incredible place's sensors some time to detect the Lady's hidden fortress. Cydonia wasn't a face as many had thought who had looked at the red planet through powerful telescopes, but it _was _a distinctive mountain. An easy to find landmark on a planet full of landmarks. Alley had never been there, few outside of the Lady's people _had_. Some people still thought that there was a face on Mars, but Alley had seen real time pictures taken by Advent cameras. The nest had been curious. (While they had been younger, Alley's nest had read _lots_ of science fiction and fantasy pertaining to the Red planet in general and Cydonia in particular.) There was nothing. Just a mountain that now hid a precious secret. A free Ethereal and her people.

"Alley?" A worried voice heralded Doctor Cooper entering the bunker. His escorts followed him, Valere and the woman in armor both silent as the doctor took in the tense scene. "What has happened?"

"I am sending someone to stop the pilot." Alley said quietly. "You have two patients in a room down the hall." Doctor Cooper didn't move, seeing Jane's tension and Alley shook her head. "I did something very bad, Doctor. Jane is rightly upset with me."

"Whatever you plan, don't do it!" The man said with a sigh. "Do you have _any_ idea how the Lady will react if you do anything dumb?" At that, Jane stiffened, but Alley shook her head.

"The Lady knows what I did." Alley said softly as Lizbeth turned to the armored window and waited. Alley bent down to a microphone and spoke. "Get it warmed up, Lizbeth. You launch in two minutes." Lizbeth did not acknowledge the order, just started for her cockpit. Doctor Cooper stared at the window and then at Alley, his face pale. "What I did, I did, Doctor. There can be no forgiveness for such. No matter what some may preach, the end does _not_ justify the means. I took her free will from her and I _will_ pay for that."

"The Lady didn't say." Doctor Cooper said slowly. "I can see why. Such an act… Alley… You are not evil."

"Am I not?" Alley inquired sadly. "What I did… I cannot say I took no enjoyment from it after she hurt me and far more others than anyone knew. I did. I enjoyed hurting her." Jane looked at the Viper but did not speak.

"Alley..." Doctor Cooper slumped. "I will tend the patients, but you… You better be here when I come back. _Clear?_"

"I cannot guarantee that, Doctor." Alley replied as she watched Lizbeth climb into her ship and shut the canopy. "If Jane doesn't kill me, my nest will."

At that, everyone stilled.

"No one is going to kill you, Matron!" Jian snapped, her hand on her spear. Jane hadn't moved at all, her face almost as expressive as a wall might be.

"They don't have a choice, Jian." Alley replied, still even. "I violated my word. I asked the nest and Jane to stop me if I did such. I did. End of story."

"Did you?" Doctor Cooper asked, an odd bubble of emotion in his tone. Not fear. Anticipation? Alley glanced at him sharply and he was eyeing her speculatively. "Did you really?" He shook his head. "I think I need a guide." He crossed his arms and it was clear he would not budge until Alley led him.

"I will show you to the room." Alley said as she spun and slithered towards the door. The doctor and his escorts followed her. Jane started to move, but Jian blocked the way and both warrior women glared at each other. Alley shook her head. "Your quarrels are with me, not each other. We can settle whatever needs to be settled _after_ the threat has passed." Neither of them moved and Alley heaved a sigh. She looked at Doctor Cooper who frowned.

"Kristen." The doctor said to his escort who had never removed her helmet. "Keep them apart."

"Yes, sir." The fully armored woman strode to stand between the two and did not move, drew no weapon. Instead, her armor was suddenly glowing with powerful force fields. It was clear to see she wasn't going to budge. She looked from one to the other and did not move as Jane growled at her. She did not reply and Jane shook her head.

Whatever was said after, Alley did not hear as she slithered from the room and led the doctor and Valere towards the room where Maya lay with the pilot. And the other. Alley would have made the entire trip in silence except the doctor suddenly chuckled. Valere's face held shock as the doctor snickered. Alley just looked at him.

"Dang, Alley. You are _good_." The Doctor said with a grin as Alley stopped short. "They don't know, do they?"

"Know what?" Alley asked, making sure her face held confusion.

"Hmmm." The human who wasn't really one anymore said slowly. "Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't you make your nest and Jane Kelly swear to stop you, using whatever force was needed, if you used your _Molecular Control_ power in an evil fashion?" He inquired. Alley felt her guts freeze as he shook his head. "Now, from what little I gathered with some difficulty since the Lady has been remarkably closemouthed even for her, you had to break this Lizbeth woman free of the Warlock's control." It was sort of a question, sort of not. Alley nodded, her face smooth. "That would have been _psionic_, not _molecular_."

"She was drugged." Alley replied, working to keep her tone offhand, but the doctor was not fooled.

"Was she?" The doctor slowly shook his head. "And… _You_ acted evil in enslaving someone by using your unique power to neutralize a drug, or a host of them, in someone who was _compelled_ to act evil and-" He broke off as Alley clamped a hand over his mouth! Valere gasped, but the doctor's eyes were twinkling! Was he smiling?

"_No._" Alley said in a very soft, but very insistent voice. "Doctor! Do _not_ push this!"

"This is all part of your plan, isn't it?" Doctor Cooper said slowly when Alley released him.

"Doctor, I enslaved her." Alley said sharply, but again, the doctor was not fooled!

"Did you?" Doctor Cooper paused and then shook his head. "_And..._ I was just told to drop this. You know by who. This is going to nag me, Alley. _Mom_..." That was heavily sarcastic "...knows I am not going to just 'drop' it no matter _how_ insistent she gets, so… What do you need?" He asked as Alley stared at him. "You must have a plan and I am part of it."

"You have _three_ patients, Doctor." Alley said as she started off again. The other two followed. "If Jane finds out about the third, we haven't _seen_ bad yet. X-Com did something truly horrible and I do not know if we can fix it. We have to try. I have to do what I must but I am no doctor. Maya and the pilot… they need a doctor. Not me."

"Alley, your healing ability puts me to shame." Doctor Cooper's tone held no jealousy, only awe.

"They need you, not me." Alley said sadly. "I am not human. You are." Both Valere and Doctor Cooper eyed her and Alley shrugged. "More than me."

"Funny." Valere spoke of the first time. "You act more humane than many humans I have known." Alley eyed the Sectoid headed girl and Valere shrugged. "It is the truth. You are the very definition of the word 'selfless' Alley and I know why." Alley would not meet her pure black eyes and Valere's voice softened. "Alley, you are not alone. I woke up like this and went more than bit nuts as a result. I got better, but as a result, I know what it is to be different. To look different. You may be totally inhuman looking, but you are kind and gentle. You are not an enslaver!"

"Yes, I am." Alley spun and started forward again, making the pair of human shaped beings follow her. "You two need to stay in the room with Maya and the pilot. Maya will need help, the pilot probably will too. He says his name is Sam, like Maya's brother, but that one died, so I am not sure if that is true or not." Alley sighed heavily. "I bet his form in the ship is a thought form. A psionic sending given enough material strength to work items in the real world." At that, both Valere and the doctor hissed. "And yes, I know who did it and how to stop him."

"Alley… Doctor Cooper said very softly. "You cannot face him alone." Alley looked at Valere and shook her head the raw fear she felt from the pure black eyes. Then again, the Lady's people had felt he Warlock's raw power from a distance and knew all too well how such unbridled power cost.

"I do not fight alone." Alley replied. "This is not your fight. It is mine. You need to tend your patients, doctor. Valere? He will need you to scan… Well..." She shook her head again. "The Lady told me you were tech trained. You will see. Easer is helping Mina. You need to help Maya, Samuel… and Jenni."

"Jenn-" The doctor broke off as Alley entered the room where Maya lay with the pilot and he stopped short as he took in the scene. The two unconscious humans and the vat with the brain in it. "Oh no..." He breathed, horrified. "_NO!_"

"Hello Doctor." Jenni said from her speaker. "This not how I wished to meet you again." Alley knew they had met in passing during the mess with Hiloria, [(See fanfiction X-Com 2: Choices)] but not the particulars. From how Doctor Cooper sounded and looked? They hadn't parted as enemies.

"Oh..." Doctor Cooper looked as if he was going to spit, curse or faint. "Ah… Alley?" He inquired as the Viper slid back towards the door.

"You have your role to play in this, I have mine." Alley was quiet. "All three will need help. Do not leave this room." She warned. "I can guarantee your safety in here, but nowhere else in this base. He touched a _lot_ of it."

"And the room is safe.. because..." Doctor Cooper stared at the puddle of purple goo on the floor that had been an Avatar before Alley had lost her temper. "Oh. Psionic reaction to _that_ has to _hurt_."

"My heart bleeds." Jenni snapped form the vat. "This isn't what I planned. I messed things up, Doctor. Alley knows what she is doing, even if she won't _say_ what she is doing." That was snide.

"Better that I am the only one who has this burden." Alley said quietly. "You need to talk, you and Jenni, Doctor. Stay. Here." That was a command and both Valere and Doctor Cooper nodded.

"You better come back." Doctor Cooper said with a growl worthy of Jane Kelly.

"I will do my best." Alley promised with a sad smile as she left the room and shut the door behind her. She didn't bother to lock it. She started off, but not back towards the bunker. Towards another door. She slid into the hangar and smiled as she saw the Veritech's canopy up as she had ordered Lizbeth to stay until she arrived. No one else knew what her plans were. No one would approve.

"Alley?" Jane's startled voice came from the intercom as Alley slid towards the waiting ship with all of the speed of her kind. Vipers were not the most durable of alien species. They were not the most powerful physically, technologically or psionically. What they were, was _fast_.

The speed of Earth snakes was well documented over short distances. All of them could reach speeds while striking of almost three meters per second. The strike of some snakes had been clocked at well over that! Vipers, while not Earth snakes, shared many characteristics with species more commonly known as the King Cobra and Spitting Cobra. Both of these were insanely fast in the wild. Not to mention incredibly dangerous to provoke. Kind of like Alley, come to think of it.

"Alley? What are you doing?" Jane managed as Alley coiled for a fast moment just below the open cockpit and then all but shot herself into area beneath the still raised canopy, eschewing the ladder that Lizbeth had not retracted. "_ALLEY!_" Jane screamed as Alley coiled up on the seat. The feel from Alley's partner changed to shock mixed with rage and sorrow! Jane had just put the dots together and was not happy!

"Go!" The Viper commanded as the canopy came down. Lizbeth did not bother protesting, she hit the controls and the twin exhausts of the small fighter ship roared to life as the door in front of them opened and a starscape appeared. Then massive acceleration pushed Alley to her seat even as she gripped it with her hands and mental powers.

"You have no chance." Lizbeth commented from where she was flying the ship. Alley did not react. "I will enjoy watching you scream while he tears you apart."

"Better that than what he did to the kids." Alley's cold rejoinder had the pilot tensing. "Or what I should say, _what you_ did to those poor kids at his orders." Lizbeth didn't react and Alley's smile was a cold thing. "I had my suspicions as soon as I saw you in the base. You may be able to hide from normals and most psionics, but your molecular feel is distinct. You were the one who operated on those kids, who altered them to be disposable pilots and left them to a nurturer to raise as slaves for the Elders."

"You know nothing." Lizbeth muttered, but Alley wasn't paying attention as the area around the ship seemed to lurch and yes, it wasn't her imagination. The energy that surrounded it was purple! The Warlock was close!

"I know that he took you." Alley replied as she focused herself like never before. This would try her power and her control like nothing else she had ever faced. "I know you were in charge of the base. I know X-Com had no idea at all of what you did there."

"The world needed protection." Lizbeth said slowly. "It wasn't my fault."

"That he came and took the base, and you, with barely any effort?" Alley demanded. "No, that wasn't your fault." She shook her head as the world turned bright purple. "What has happened since, yes, that is your fault."

"I didn't have a choice!" Lizbeth sobbed that. Alley's next words made her stop in mid-sob.

"I know. I am about to give you one. Choose well, girl."

"What?" Lizbeth asked, confusion warring with her fear and pain. "What do you mean?"

"And…. Now."

Without any sense of transition, Alley and Lizbeth stood in a wide open room. The walls were Elder metal, but suffused with purple energy. Various evil looking pieces of machinery pulsed with energy both alien and psionic around the area, but it was the blue skinned being who rose form the throne he had been sitting on who took all of their attention. Lizbeth moaned in fear and all but feel to her knees, but Alley dd not react even as the Warlock smiled at her, pointed teeth gaping wide.

"Well, my dear. This is unexpected." The Warlock sounded amused. "I see Lizbeth is being herself. Pity she was so stubborn, but she proved a useful tool even after I broke her." Lizbeth all but buried her face in the floor as Alley just looked at him. He frowned slightly as Alley looked around.

"A throne? Really?" Alley inquired, her tone curious instead of angry or even _concerned!_ "The Elders never needed thrones. Please tell me you are not compensating for something."

"You know you have no chance against me, slave." The Warlock seemed to pulse with power as Alley's tone cut him to the quick.

"And _you_ know that what you did here is forbidden." Alley retorted. "I have no doubt that you can break me, given enough time. But you don't have that time."

"Oh?" The Warlock inquired. "The bomb you placed in the ship is an infantile trap."

"Yes." Alley's smile was one that only a Viper could produce. "It is." The Warlock stared at her, nonplussed for an instant and then he smiled broadly.

"So, you have come to join me?" The blue skinned former enforcer of the alien overlords of Earth asked. "I see your power imprinted on Lizbeth. You seem to be of like mind with me."

"No. Key word there, 'seem'." Alley retorted. "You see, this place is hidden from all but your servants or those you wish to corrupt. Bringing me here was bad idea. This is the last vestige of your power. A power you stole from Lizbeth and used to corrupt that base along with the soul of a young man who dreamed of flight." She shook her head slowly. "I do wonder. Did you enjoy it? Hearing those children scream as they went into Lizbeth's tender care?"

"I did." The Warlock smiled wider, but paused as Alley sighed. "What?"

"Part of me hoped I could explain to you how useless this conflict is." Alley coiled herself slowly and carefully, raising her head and expanding her hood. "But you do not understand, do you? You truly are not capable of understanding _why_ the Elders forbade crossing the boundary that you breached. Forbid traveling to this place that you forged into this hidden base from which to launch your conquest of them and everyone else."

The Warlock stared at her and then his face hardened. "You will serve."

"I _do_ serve." Alley retorted. "But not you. Never you."

"You think that now-" The Warlock started, only to be drowned out by piercing shrieks of sound from the distance. Coming closer! "What? No!"

"Surprise, asshole!" Alley struck, grabbing Lizbeth and fleeing even as the _squadron of TIE Bombers_ flew close overhead and dropped their payloads on the Warlock's head.


	20. Chapter 20

**Extending**

Alley ran as the Warlock shouted in rage. The high quantity of projectiles that landed on him would sting, but since all were water balloons? None would do him much harm at all, even the particularly _vile_ water that Alley had asked for. Bath water was never pretty. Bath water from several dozen kids? Yuck! Bolts of pure psychic force flew from his hands as he shouted. His rage was given form as he shot assailant after assailant out of the sky. That wasn't hard, considering each was a remote controlled model of a fairly obscure craft used in _one_ movie in a popular franchise. But there had been over a dozen of them attacking him and his howls of rage covered Alley's quick exit from his throne room.

As the Viper slithered away from the evil alien at her full speed, Lizbeth squirmed in her grasp and Alley hissed at her.

"If you want to die, or worse, feel free to struggle." Alley kept her voice low as the Warlock's rage faded a little. "We have, at best, a _minute_ before he recovers from that dousing and chases us down. You have a choice to make and you will do it _now_."

"What are you talking about?" Lizbeth snapped right back. She _did_ stop struggling.

"This is in the ship." Alley said as she slithered down corridors that seemed endless. That stood to reason, since this was all in a mind. One mind in particular. "What you did to the kids was horrific in the extreme. What was done to you..." Alley shook her head slightly as she fled further. "I refuse to pity you. I should kill you for what you have done, but from what I understand, that won't stop you."

"What are you talking-?" Lizbeth broke off and hissed almost as loud as Alley had. "_Who_ have you been talking to?"

"Nunya." Alley snickered at Lizbeth's expression.

"Who is 'Nunya'?" Lizbeth demanded, halfway to anger that was fanned as Alley laughed at her. "What?"

"Nunya. None your business." Alley snapped as Lizbeth stared at her. "You screwed up big-time even before you tormented Jenni. You better _pray_ Jane doesn't find out about that." She actually shuddered. Then again, she knew _exactly_ what Colonel Jane Kelly was capable of. The good, the bad and the _messy_. "She can do things to you that even the Warlock might balk at and that is saying something."

"i don't believe you!" Lizbeth snorted. "You don't know what he did to me."

"No." Alley allowed. "I don't. I know what was done to my nest and I know he was involved somehow, but there is no information available since Easer wiped all of her records. But in all honesty? I don't care." Lizbeth stared at her, confusing rising again and Alley sneered at her. "What? Still think you are smarter than me?"

"What choice?" Lizbeth asked in a very small voice, but Alley wasn't fooled. She was biding her time, saving her strength for an attempt to kill Alley and flee.

"A simple one." Alley said as they approached a door set in one wall. A very odd door. It was huge, that door and clearly made of metals not found on Earth since they were glistening purple and green. "Live or die."

"You are going to kill me?" Lizbeth sneered but then bit back a scream as the door vanished and the event horizon of a black hole beckoned just beyond it. Odd. A clear, bright _rainbow_ was arrowing straight into said black hole. "_NO!_"

Lizbeth jerked out of Alley's grip for a moment, but only for a moment. Alley grabbed her and slid back from the door. The girl stared as Alley reared up and hissed in anger. At the black hole?

"You are really pissing me off." The Viper sneered. "That is _not_ a good idea." The girl screamed again as Alley bit her arm. She instantly went limp and Alley held her as the paralytic took hold. "If you won't let me handle this, I am just going to kill her here and now. She has earned that and so much more."

"Alley… Please!" The black hole disappeared and Elizabeth appeared in a large room behind the door. She was wearing golden armor and a crown this time. She was not visibly armed. No, not a room! A hangar! Inside said hangar lay Lizbeth's Veritech. The golden armored woman stepped back as Alley bit Lizbeth again! "_NO!_"

"Binary neurotoxin. You have _ten seconds!_ _Get lost!_" Alley commanded and Elizabeth wilted. Then she nodded and vanished. Alley neutralized the toxin before it did more than daze the woman in her grip and Lizbeth moaned as she regained partial consciousness. "Your choices are thinning, brat."

"What choice?" Lizbeth manged to moan. "Live or die? I died… I died so many times..." She moaned as Alley hefted her and slid into the hangar, wary of a trap, but nothing happened.

"I can make it so you will live _forever_." Alley said as she said towards the ship. "Forever. Alone. In agony. I can do that and I _so_ want to after seeing what you did to those kids and Jenni."

"I didn't have a choice." Lizbeth moaned as Alley all but threw her up against the ship and held her there. "He had me! I… I came here and he took me and I… I tried!" She was sobbing but broke off as Alley slammed her up against cold metal. "_WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?_" Lizbeth screamed as Alley hit the ship with her again!

"I want you to fix your mess." Alley was almost as warm as interstellar space. "I know what you can do and no, you don't find out how I know." She slammed Lizbeth up against the ship again as Lizbeth started to query. "Right now, you make your choice! Live or die! Choose! _Now!_"

"Death." Lizbeth said weakly as Alley held her off the ground, the Viper's rage goading her to heights of strength unheard of in her fairly fragile species.

"Done." Alley dropped the woman at the base of the ship and slid back. "Clan Lady, she is all yours."

A new being slipped into view from behind the ship. The pale skinned, dark haired human girl didn't look much older than Lizbeth, but her eyes were far older. Far harder than anything human could manage. She wore an unusual garment that was half tunic, half dress and all beautiful but at the same time, it was clearly armor of some kind. Lizbeth stared at the girl and froze like a deer caught in headlights as the girl who _wasn't one_ any more than _Lizbeth_ was shook her head.

"I _did_ wonder why the wardens all recused themselves from judging this. I can see _why_ now. A searcher between realities lost and tortured until she went mad. Matriarch, what a mess." The newcomer said in a very quiet voice. "This is… Alley." She shook her head. "Killing her won't help."

"Depends on _how_ we do it." Alley retorted and the other went totally still. "And yes, I can do that."

"At what cost to you, Alley?" The other inquired, her tone odd. Gentle, but firm. "I cannot let you kill yourself now. _You_ are needed for _Jian_ to exist."

"Possible futures do not concern me right now." Alley replied, still cold. "Jian chose her path just as I did when I let Lizbeth take me."

"Yes. Jian did and she will say to let you make your choice." Now the girl was just sad. "All of them will. You did good, Alley. You know that, right?" Her tone was gentle now as Lizbeth stared from Alley to the other and back.

"Halbratina? Clan Lady of Stratos? Here? How?" Lizbeth stammered and both of the others shook their heads.

"Nunya." Alley and the other shared a slightly strained grin.

"But..." Lizbeth jerked as Alley spit at her feet and the pool of venom started to hiss. She gasped and recoiled, but suddenly fell to lie next to the pool. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a moan.

"Alley, no." The other, Halbratina, tried again. "Elizabeth is already angry. She has cause. I cannot simply judge a person who has endured what Lizbeth has. She is a hurting child, Alley. Just like I was. Just like you."

"Do not go there, Clan Lady." Alley warned. "You will not like what happens."

"I get that you are angry, Alley and you _too_ have cause." The other strove to reassure her but Alley was not mollified. "We can help her."

"At what cost?" Alley demanded. "She will come back and when she does, _he_ will come back! He is _part_ of her! You know it!" Lizbeth stilled in her feeble struggles, staring at Alley who snarled at her. "And you thought I was just a dumb X-ray."

"Alley..." The standing girl sighed. "We can fix this. Please let us?"

"No."

Alley spit at Lizbeth and this time, her venom was much more potent. The girl _dissolved_ with a moaned scream. The standing being recoiled as the supine girl was suddenly replaced by a cloud of glowing green energy. Energy Alley grabbed and held even as red energy flared from the standing girl and purple energy flared inside of Lizbeth's.

"ALLEY!"

_Now, Easer._ Alley said in her mind and she was suddenly far, far away from the room where red energy was sweeping towards where she had just been. She was flying in space? No, some kind of formless void. She held Lizbeth and snarled as the purple energy stabbed at her again. _Oh no, you don't! Maya! I need you now. __All of you._

"Roger that." Maya's voice came from nowhere as a huge red and white _thing_ hurtled out of the nowhere that Alley was suspended in to crouch over her protectively. It had four legs, a tail and a face that said 'cat' but huge and made of metal. No, not a cat. Not with that huge metal mane. A _lion!_ It roared. The sheer force of the roar rumbled the very heavens and the evil purple energy was thrown away from Alley as she cradled the energy she held. The enemy flew off but Alley knew it would be back and soon. Not alone.

_What are you doing?_ Lizbeth managed to project her thoughts as Alley focused herself.

_You wanted death? You got it._ Alley finished centering herself and then stabbed her will deep into Lizbeth's energy. It was like trying to herd a tide as Lizbeth fought back, but the girl was dazed, still confused and the ties that had bound her to her master had just been shattered. Alley's controls were as well and Lizbeth was reeling. So, her energy was easy to manipulate. Just like the Warlock had wanted. _You will _**not**_ reform here again. __X-Com or no, breaching the barrier is forbidden for a reason. __If you __ever return__, we will destroy you. If need be, I will make __myself__ immortal to await your return and I _**will**_ destroy you if you show yourself again._

_You cannot stop me!_ Lizbeth sneered and then screamed as Alley twisted with her mind. "What are you doing?" She gasped aloud as she reformed inside a cockpit with Alley sitting right beside her. The décor was black metal and the trim was white.

"Stopping the enemy." Alley said with pride as she looked around. "It has been a long time, but I think I got it right. We will see."

"You cannot fight him!" Lizbeth all but screamed as bands of metal bound her to the seat. "He is a thought form!"

"Figured." Alley was still looking around and then she reached for the two side by side yoke like controls. "There is really only one way to do that. Fighting a thought _with_ a thought. Evil must be faced with good and I know just the way to do it. From days of long ago… From uncharted regions of the universe… Comes a _legend_." She touched a control and Mina's face appeared on a screen nearby. The girl wore a green flightsuit and a round green helmet with a visor that covered her face down to her mouth. Alley looked at herself and smiled as a black flightsuit made for her kind appeared around her and a helmet crowned her head. She didn't need to look to know it too was black. "Are we ready?"

"As ready as we can be, Matron. They showed us, but we have never practiced." Mina sounded unsure, but then nodded. "Ready, Ma'am."

"Good." Alley looked at Lizbeth who had stilled, her face turning into a rictus of fear. "I think he is coming. I _also_ think we should show him a proper welcome for his kind. A _loud_ one."

"Yes, Ma'am." Mina replied and then the screen split into four. A girl who looked just like Mina sat in one, her own flightsuit and helmet red. She smiled and nodded but remained silent. A boy that Alley had met in passing smiled at her from his own screen, his suit and helmet yellow. Chris had been selected from his peers both for his skill and his empathy. He knew when not to fight, a rare trait.

"I feel _absolutely_ _silly_ in this attire." Jane Kelly appeared in another screen, her suit and helmet _blue_.

"It was the only lion left, Jane." Alley replied. "But I am glad you are here. I am not a sword fighter and we will need your expertise, I think."

"You owe me a _hell_ of an explanation, but first I was told some of what to do. And yes, we fight together." Jane was clearly psyching herself up and Alley nodded.

"I _do_ owe you that explanation, but we need to kick this guy's ass first. Just roll with it, Jane." Alley reassured her partner. "Parts will be instinctive. Leave the psychic stuff to me and defenses to the others. _Your_ job is to get the sword on target."

"_What_ sword?" Jane demanded. "None of these _cats_ have _swords_." A roar of clear disapproval came from all around Alley and the Viper sighed as Jane jumped. "Um... sorry? Uh… lions."

"No, _they_ don't." Alley agreed as a familiar bat winged ship appeared in the distance, its fuselage shrouded with purple energy. The warlock's weapon, come to kill them if it could. "So… It is time. Ready to form."

"Dynatherms connected!" Came from Mina.

"Infracells up!" Came from Maya.

"Megathrusters are go!" The next bit sounded from the boy and all five of them spoke the final words in unison.

"_Let's go Voltron Force!_"

* * *

Not every close at all

"Holy _m__oley_."

_Many_ people were watching as the five huge metal lions each changed, arching, rotating, transforming into pieces that then latched onto each other. It seemed to take forever, but in seconds, what had been five huge metal lions was one even larger robot with lion heads for hands and feet. The small saucer shaped craft craft that hovered in the inter-reality space was well designed for stealth. It had to be, to go where it had to on many occasions. Wardens went where they were needed, but sometimes? Even their prodigious power wasn't enough. So, they had allies, one of whom stood at the command console. Halbratina was not happy. She was hardly the only person upset.

"I have seen wonders and horrors, but this? If I didn't see it for myself, I wouldn't believe it." Elizabeth said weakly as the ship that had started all of this swept closer to the new enemy, its weapons alive and tracking. The mighty robot simply waited, its arms at its sides, but a glow was building in both lion headed hands. That boded. "That snake is _seriously_ sneaky."

"No joke." The Lady hovered nearby, her hovering yellow alien presence the only thing keeping Elizabeth calm as half a dozen wardens of reality stood ready to fight, to kill Lizbeth if needed. None of them had spoken, the Lady had commanded them not to before she had summoned Elizabeth to this place to see the end game. Elizabeth was stressed but she had not violated the reality as the Lady had decreed. Close, but not quite. "But it is an inspired choice. Good to battle evil." She turned to where another Ethereal hung in mid-air, slightly apart from the rest. "Well, Asaru? Are _you_ going to object?"

"If they stay..." The blue Ethereal said very quietly. "They won't be able to remember this."

"No." The Lady said sadly. "Alley and Jane Kelly may or may not remain bonded, but the rest? No. It is not safe for them. I… I want to help them and I know I cannot."

"His weapons are intended to kill our kind. He wants us both dead, Lady." The blue Ethereal said to the yellow one. "The Elders erred badly in making him. If X-Com hadn't beaten him, he would have hunted them and us."

"He was meant to hunt _you_, you mean." The Lady all but sneered that. "You are the whole reason they came here." She paused as an armored form stepped forward. Jain was blank faced but her stance was calm. "Jian?"

"What will be, will be, Lady. Let the past remain in the past." The warrior from the future said mildly and everyone relaxed a little as the Lady sighed. "This is the Matron's battle, not ours. All we can do is observe Alley and pray she chooses a different path than vengeance."

"'Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord'." The Lady quoted the Christian Bible a bit absently as the ship and robot closed with one another. "We will likely want to back off a bit, Clan Lady."

"We need to see it happen." Halbratina did not seem to move, but the view altered a little, seeming to distance itself. "We need corroboration that the breach is sealed." She glared at the blue Ethereal. "And if you _ever_ do such a _stupid_ thing again, I will _personally_ toss your ass into a black hole."

No, she wasn't human. That threat came in a very deep voice that no human had a chance of producing.

"Provided of course _Alley_ leaves anything left of him." Elizabeth sighed as the robot started to move, arching towards the ship that was glowing bright purple now.

The massive winged robot was glowing just as bright and far _cleaner_ as Voltron, the legendary defender of the universe, charged its enemy.


	21. Chapter 21

**Sorry for the long hiatus. It took me some time to be able to write again. Depression is a deadly foe. It lies and it knows all of our secrets. All of the buttons to push. I am still breathing despite Amazon's and my own mind's best efforts. One day at a time.**

* * *

**Angels**

The battle was a stalemate. Every purple energy beam or missile that the bat winged X-Com fighter threw, the huge robot avoided or took on an equally massive shield that extended from the wings on its back. The first time it happened, all of the onlookers winced. That was the psi killing weapon and it should have struck down all of the pilots of the lions who had merged into the robot. It didn't and the response from Voltron had blown two pieces of the ship's hull clean off.

"What is going on?" Eliza asked carefully as the mighty robot fired a series of beams that the ship took on its enhanced shields. Said shields flared but held. "He can flee anytime."

"He won't." Came from the Lady who hovered near one wall of the small spacecraft. "He knows that if he gives her a shot at him, Alley will tear him to pieces."

"Rightly so." Jian's tone was flat as she too stared at the screen. "He has truly earned her ire." She glanced at the blue Ethereal, but Asaru did not respond. "As have _you_."

"Jian." The human looking being who commanded the small ship shook her head. Halbratina was not happy with any of this. "We all know the true facts and _yes_, he messed up. But what was he supposed to do? They were coming from an alternate dimension. How was he to know where the reality barrier lies?"

"I cannot believe _you_ of all people are defending him, Clan Lady!" Jian snapped at the girl and froze as everyone with a physical form winced. Halbratina eyed her and Jian ducked her head. "Apologies."

"Accepted." The girl gave Jian a nod of her own. "We are all stressed, Jian. Alley is sneaky as hell. She learned that from the absolute best and her latest adventures simply put icing on the cake." Halbratina shook her head. "I did not expect this. That said? If anyone can pull this insane plan off, Alley can, but even if she manages somehow? That does still leave us with a quandary." She looked at Elizabeth who bowed her head. "Lizbeth messed up. Yes, she was hurt. Yes, she was broken and bent into this role but she accepted it. She did terrible things here."

"She is not the only one of us who has done terrible things. So have I." Elizabeth said in a very soft voice. No one seemed to know what to say to that and she sighed. "She is my sister. I have to try and help her."

"She is _not_ your sister. She may have started out as a copy of you, but that is not what she is now." The absurdly young looking being in control of the ship said firmly. "She made her own choices. Now she has to live with the consequences of said choices." Halbratina shook her head as Elizabeth glared at the blue Ethereal. "None of us can stay here much longer. We are all needed."

"I know." Elizabeth said quietly. "So… What?"

"We will let Alley act as she wishes." Halbratina's words were soft, but a command. "We are here to observe the endgame. No more."

"And… after?" Elizabeth asked. No one spoke and she had her answer. She bowed her head. "I like Alley. That is not a good thing, I know. Every time I start liking people, bad things happen to them."

"Empress." Jian unbent just a little and took a step to stand beside the distraught woman. "It is not about you. You know that."

"I do." Elizabeth heaved a great sigh and nodded, raising her head to meet Jian's eyes. "I was just trying to help. Alley, Lizbeth, even Jane Kelly. I just wanted to help. Make some good after so much bad. I made a mess. I know that and I accept the Lady's judgment. But I _was_ trying to help."

"You did." Jian smiled at Elizabeth who stared at her. Jina turned to the hover yellow Ethereal and nodded. "Lady."

"Always the hard way, eh, Jian?" The hovering yellow form was more tired than snide. Jian shrugged.

"Easy is boring, Lady." The armored warrior smiled as several of the wardens did. "I too bear some responsibility of this. I saw the incursion and did not act as I should since it was X-Com doing it. Sentimentality stayed my hand. That ends now." Everyone stiffened as she glared at the blue Ethereal. "As of now, _anyone_ who violates the thresholds around this reality will answer to me and mine." That was to everyone and Halbratina nodded as the Oath skittered around the room as if on claws.

"Your Matron taught you well, Jian." The Lady was sad now, so sad.

"Yes, she did." Jian agreed. Then she vanished in a haze of familiar green energy. _Warden of reality_ energy!

"We better leave." Halbratina snickered as Elizabeth turned an incredulous look her way. "Jian Darkstorm has never been a patient soul and now? She is acting in her rights and duties. Her Matron has chosen this path and we cannot interfere. Live or die, we cannot interfere."

"She _chose_ to fight. She is a combatant, so Rule 2 does not apply." Elizabeth started to carefully gather energy. Rule 2 for the wardens of reality was to leave their families _alone_. Any of said family who chose to fight took their chances. Anyone _else_ who was touched usually had insane amounts of backup in seconds who cared nothing for collateral damage. Few dared to try that rule and _never_ more than once. The others started vanishing as Halbratina looked at them. In moments only the two Ethereals and Halbratina remained with her. "I… Lady… I am sorry."

"So am I." The Lady said to empty space as Elizabeth vanished in a flash of gold. She turned to the blue Ethereal but he too vanished, leaving her alone with the girl seeming Clan Lady. "There are times I truly hate myself almost as much as I hate the Elders. Elizabeth _was_ just trying to help her sister."

"Welcome to my world." The Clan Lady said sadly. "Are you sure?" She asked kindly.

"No. I do not want to live out eternity helping to ward this reality, but I must. The Elders made so many messes, but even they knew their limits. They understood crossing that threshold had repercussions. _Someone_ in our time has to ward it and I guess I am elected." The Lady floated a little away from the Clan Lady. "I do not want this. I do not-" She broke off as the scene in front of them changed. "What the?"

The robot had formed its sword and the X-Com spacecraft was now fleeing for its life as Voltron charged at it. It clearly had no weapons that fired behind it and both watchers hissed as the mighty robot lashed out and one wing of the ship flew away. It didn't seem to matter, the ship did not hesitate, did not even react to the damage! Another strike and a good quarter of the aft end of the ship was sliced off. The bit that fell away flashed purple and vanished. But the space around them was warping into something totally different.

"What is she doing?" Halbratina asked as the Lady hissed in astonishment.

A new voice answered.

"Healing."

Both of them froze as new form appeared in the middle of the room. The male human wore Advent style combat armor that was oddly nondescript. His expression was remote. Both of them stared as he shook his head. Both knew who he was, the Clan Lady by reputation, but the Ethereal had known him in person!

"_MARK?_" The Lady's incredulous shout turned to rage as she spun to Halbratina who jerked in place. "What the _hell_ did you _do?_"

"She didn't, Lady." The one time partner of the Viper who was the center of all of this said quietly. "Let go of your sorrow, none of what happened was your fault."

"You… You died. I couldn't help you! I tried. I tried so hard!" The Lady was babbling, grief, rage and fear all mixing into her tone.

"You repeatedly have stated that you are not a deity, Lady." Mark said with a soft, sad smile. "Do not take the responsibility of one when you are not one. You have enough concerns." Somehow, he reached out to take one of her floating tendrils in both of his hands and her sobs quieted. "Be at ease, Lady. It is handled. Go. Rest. Tend your own and know that there are many who love you."

"I... You… I failed." The Lady said in a tiny voice.

"No, you didn't." Mark reassured her. "My time ended and I had to go. As ends go, it wasn't a bad one. Alley has her own path and it will be what it is. Go on. Go home." That was a command. "Rest and recover. Wake from this nightmare and remember that Elizabeth did mean well. Her desires went awry as such often do around crazy mortals, but that is not your concern. Lizbeth will be handled." The Lady protested in a sputter and he continued, a bite of command entering his tone. "That is not your concern. Rest, Lady."

"I… I can't..." The Lady sobbed as Mark pulled her into an embrace. Were those _wings_ of shadowy energy that surrounded them? A horse nickered and Habratina averted her eyes as the pair shimmered and vanished.

The girl who wasn't one nodded slowly even though no one was present.

"Unlike many, I can take a hint." Halbratina smiled as she started to key controls. "I will be gone in two minutes." She stared as the scene on her screen charged from open space to a fluid filled area, the bat shaped ship turning into a mass of roiling purple energy. A large ball shaped mass shone in the distance, but between it and the energy, Voltron stood, its sword bared. "And… Now, the beginning."

With that, her ship's engines flared to send her back to her own reality. Away form the cytoplasm it had been sitting in. Away from the nucleus that was the goal of the enemy. Away from everything that everyone had assumed was in outer space and wasn't. No wonder no one could find the enemy's hidden fortress. It had been hidden in a very small place.

Halbratina was smiling with both admiration and anticipation as her ship flashed away, leaving the _human cell_ to be a battleground.

* * *

The battle

"What is going on?" Jane demanded as the world shifted around them. Where they had been fighting in space, now they were floating in some kind of fluid. They had hit the ship several times and Jane had been optimistic but then, everything had changed.

"I am killing Lizbeth." Alley replied, her tone cold. Jane stared at the monitor in front of her as Alley released her controls and took hole of Lizbeth's head. The girl did not resist. Indeed, the girl seemed just as shocked by all this as Jane was. "She wants it and so do I after all of what she did."

"She is the one who had us...altered." Maya said from her screen, the girl's face strained both from battle and from emotion.

"At the Warlock's command, yes. You and my nest." Alley's hands were glowing now and Lizbeth's mouth spread in a scream that did not pass her lips. "Her mission was to find someone. The best way to search so far and wide was to join X-Com. As long as she stayed within X-Com's reality, she could go through any and every dimensional shift and reboot as their reality shifted into each new timeline. As long as all she did was watch and seek her quarry? No one minded. The Warlock taking her captive put paid to that plan and doomed her. I always knew he was evil, but this? He had so much more to answer for than anyone knew. Crossing the reality threshold was a bad idea. Making this haven? A worse one."

"We are not in space, are we?" Jane asked as she took in the scene. "That is a nucleus, ganglia, mitochondria. Is this a cell?"

"It is." Alley agreed as Lizbeth's eyes shut and her mouth closed. The woman seemed oddly childlike now, her features calmer and cleaner than they had been.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Jane asked, almost conversational.

"No." In comparison, Alley was cold as ice. "You have suffered enough."

"I took the oath." Jane was gentle now. "I do the job, Alley."

"You have suffered _enough_." Alley all but spat that. "This is my task. I can and will fix this, but I have to do it alone."

"Like hell!" Came from four other throats. Alley did not look up from what she was doing. Indeed, she ignored everyone else as she focused on the woman in front of her.

"Jane, you and the others need to leave." Alley said firmly. "The energy that remains of the Warlock is directionless now. It will be taken and used, probably to fix some of what he did. You four cannot stay now." Her ice cracked for a moment and pain shone through. "Jane, please. The kids need you."

"So do you." Jane retorted. She shook her head on the monitor. "I didn't understand. Now I do. The feel…" She sighed deeply. "Oh dear. I know that feeling. Hello, Jenni."

What happened next did not surprise Alley. The three kids vanished, hopefully to pleasant dreams while Jane, Alley and Lizbeth was suddenly standing on a road that seemed to be made of rainbows. No! A bridge and not just _any!_

"Jane! You idiot!" Alley did not react as a figure in X-Com armor shimmered into being nearby. Jenni Parker was _not_ happy. She was also composed solely of energy that coruscated in a rainbow. "What do you think you are doing?"

"To be honest? I don't know. I never was much of a planner beyond the tactical or operational levels of fighting." Jane admitted, not moving at all even as Alley laid Lizbeth down, her hands still glowing on the young woman's skull. She did not look away from the energy woman. "This was the Warlock's doing, wasn't it?"

"Not just him." Jenni was all but tapping her foot. "He took advantage of a project that existed long before the Elders came. As far back as the 1960s, various human agencies were experimenting with psionic powers. Most of them with horrific results since few of them had a clue what they were doing and those few mostly knew better than to let _governments_ play with such. A clandestine push here, a slightly increased dosage of mind altering chemicals there and no one managed to harness the powers for their own use. Not even X-Com until much later for very good reason."

"I can see that." Jane's calm face was an act, Alley could feel the pain rearing inside her. "You died. I couldn't help you. I blame myself and likely always will even knowing that I couldn't have changed anything."

"I know." Jenni's tone was warm now.

"X-Com did this." Jane mused as the others eyed her. Alley was mostly focused on her work, but Jenni's energy form was still, so still. "The end always justified the means and their end was protecting humanity, so..." She slowly shook her head. "There _have_ to be limits, Jenni."

"Yes." Jenni replied, still not moving. "I broke a bunch of rules, Jane. I didn't know what I was doing, but that doesn't change what I did. You know this."

"I..." A single tear fell down Jane's face and she tried to dash it away, but was stymied by her blue helmet. "Ah, Jenni." She forced herself to relax. "I shouldn't remember this, should I?"

"No." Jenni was a statue.

"Will I remember Alley?" Jane asked as she sat, folding her hands in her lap.

"Do you want to?" Jenni asked, her tone odd and Alley jerked, looking up for the first time. Jenni looked at her and the hologram's or whatever-she-was's face was stern. "You hush!" Alley stared at Jenni and then went back to her work without a word. Jenni smiled. "Wow, she _does_ know when not to argue."

"Could have fooled me." Jane muttered not even close to under her breath. "And… This representation. The Bifrost?"

"You know me, Jane." Jenni smiled wide now. "If you have got it, flaunt it."

"Yeah." Jane bowed her head but her hand was on her sword hilt! "Do what you have to, Jenni."

"And you, Jane." Jenni knelt in front of Jane, her own head bowing. "The Halls of Valhalla are waiting and they know that a warrior with few peers will join them eventually. But not today. Alley?"

"Done." Alley laid Lizbeth down, her girl's face utterly empty. With good reason. "Her body's chemical makeup was different, but not too much. Molecules are molecules no matter where she was from originally. All the chemical markers that make up her memory are gone. All the psionic energy in this universe cannot reconstitute such when they are erased in such a way. The woman known as Lizbeth is no more and unless someone monkeys with time, she will never be who she was. I will take care of her, raise her and teach her to be someone new. Hopefully someone who knows right from wrong. if not? She is my responsibility now."

"Then, that only leaves one vestige of the Warlock's evil." Jenni said quietly. "I have to end. Alley..." She begged as Jane's hand tightened on her sword hilt.

"Jane, no!" Alley was quick to slither between them. "This is my burden. My duty. Not yours. You took your vengeance on the Elders for the loss of your love. I _cannot_ let you destroy what little of your sanity you still treasure." Then she spoke in careful Scandinavian. [This is my wryd, not yours.]

_[IT IS __**OURS!**__]_ Jane threw the words out as she released her sword and grabbed Alley's hand with both of hers. "I stand with you. I will not let you fight my battles for me, sword sister!"

"I know." Alley lapsed back into modern English, having exhausted her store of the ancient tongue. "But this is not a battle you can face with steel and courage." Alley pleaded. She did not draw away.

"Have a little faith, Alley." Jenni smiled as both mismatched females turned to stare at her. The ball behind her flashed. The nucleus was doing something. She suddenly was not standing alone. A host of warriors in golden armor stood behind her, with a tall man in armor who had only one eye hefting a golden spear at her side. No, not a _man_. Odin! The one eyed king of the Norse gods!

Jane was suddenly on her feet and Alley as well, both clad in golden armor. Alley hefted an oddly shaped golden bow and Jane a golden sword that was both like and unlike her own. The purple energy that had been seething nearby flashed and then coalesced into a familiar blue skinned form. The Warlock was not smiling.

"This mind is _mine!_" The Warlock snapped as his power flared and purple ghosts started appearing around him.

"Wanna bet?" Jenni had a staff in her transparent hand as she moved to stand between Jane and Alley. "You are not welcome in these halls, monster."

Another form appeared on the other side of Jane, this one appeared human but with a long dagger in one hand and a short sword in the other. He winked at the pair.

"Mom likes this one, Jenni." He leered at Alley who stilled. "Can we keep her?"

"We talk _after_ the battle, Loki." Came from the spear wielder and everyone stilled. Then another form appeared, this one with a _hammer_ and Odin sighed. "Late as always, Thor."

The god of thunder did not speak, simply took his place at Alley's side. The Warlock opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Alley shot him with a bolt of pure psionic hate and the fight was on as the two X-Com warriors and the female they both loved charged their enemy with a host of legendary warriors at their back.

No one noticed as an armored human pulled Lizbeth away from the battle on the bridge. Mark was smiling fondly at Alley as he held up the girl's body. A Valkyrie appeared nearby, her face stern, but it softened as he nodded to her. She took the unconscious girl unto her winged horse. Then all three vanished as the battle for Jenni's mind expanded.


	22. Chapter 22

**Rolling in hot**

On one level, it was utter insanity. The X-Com warrior Jane Kelly and the Viper Alley stood on the Bifrost bridge that led connected Asgard (the home of the Norse gods) to Midgard (Earth) and the rest of creation, fighting a horde of ghosts beside the legions of Asgard. These were _not_ the Marvel movie versions either.

On another level? It was totally _right_.

Alley slithered forward, staying with Jane and warding her partner's back as the swords-woman darted from enemy to enemy, the human's golden blade slicing through psionic phantoms as if they did not exist. They did and despite their ethereal nature, Jane's rage and Alley's power was more than sufficient to remove them from this plane of existence. Each strike from Jane's sword or the bolts of energy that flew from Alley's bow instead of arrows made an enemy vanish. Despite their charge, the Warlock's mass of psionic shades showed no sign of wavering as the horde of warriors at the odd pair's back followed them into combat.

Jenni still held her staff, but she stood back, a quartet of golden armored warriors standing between her and the fight as Jane and Alley carved their way towards the Warlock. The one eyed king of Asgard stood beside her, his spear at the ready. To strike the Warlock's minions or Jenni? Hard to say. For her part, Jenni's head was bowed as Alley and Jane fought for her. A little behind them, the hammer wielder made a mess on one side of the bridge and the other? Loki was much a ghost as the phantoms. He appeared from nowhere, struck and vanished back into invisibility, his sword and dagger just as lethal as any other weapon.

"This mind is mine!" The Warlock declared as the blue skinned alien leveled his power at Jane who staggered under the psionic assault, but Alley shot him and he recoiled. Jane charged again, her sword flashing as she carved towards her foe. "You dare!"

"You really _are_ an idiot, aren't you?" Loki was snide as he dispatched yet another enemy. The Warlock snarled and threw a bolt of power at him. The trickster of the Norse gods sighed as he dove under the wave of purple energy. Thor took the blast on his hammer, slamming it away from the battle with pure strength."I bet you can't even take a joke. This is getting tiresome. Brother? If you would?"

Without a word, Thor hit the bridge with his hammer. The shock wave that resulted was enough to send at least half of the shades flying and the rest were caught in a net of electricity that spread out from the God of Thunder's strike. Everyone was staggered. Everyone _except_ Jane and Alley.

Neither Alley nor Jane felt the need to say anything as they finally reached the stunned Warlock and attacked. Jane's sword swept low as Alley shot high, her projectiles of power hitting the blue skinned alien in the face. Psionic power flew from his hands and pain hit both furious females like battering rams, but their rage would not be denied. Even as he hurt them, Jane's sword bit deep into his side and Alley's arrows peppered his face.

A scream came from behind them as Jane hit the Warlock again ad again and Jane paused, but Alley did not.

"Do it!" Jenni called even as she fell to her knees, blood pouring form a rent in her side. Odin knelt beside her as she raised a face that was burnt as if from energy to scream at Jane who stared at her. Energy like the bolts that Alley was throwing at the blue skinned monster. "_DO IT!_" Jane was shaking her head as Alley continued her assault. "Alley cannot do it alone, Jane! Stop him!"

"I can't kill you." Jane said weakly, her sword drooping as the Warlock smiled and power thrashed Alley again.

'I am already dead, Jane!" Jenni said reasonably as she tried to rise and could not. "You saw me fall! I am a copy! No more! I love you, but this has to end! Strike, warrior! End this!"

"I… I can't kill you." Jane slumped even as Alley retreated a little. Alley stared in horror as Jane's sword fell from nerveless fingers. "I am sorry, Jenni… I can't."

Before Alley could find her tongue to say anything. red hot pokers slammed into her mind. The bond between her and Jane was an open conduit for power beyond belief as the Warlock reached out with a strangely gentle hand to touch Jane's face. The woman was crying as the blue fingers touched her and her face altered. Her tears stopped and her face blanked. Then it happened. Her skin changed from its normal pale human hue to a blueish cast. The pain hitting Alley doubled and then redoubled, scouring through her in unending waves.

"Good girl." The Warlock crooned even as Alley fell in a heap. "You will serve. Just as this one will." He nodded to Alley but his focus was on Jane as the image around them changed. Suddenly, they stood again in his throne room. Alley lay in a heap, trying to move, to scream, to do anything, but all she could do was hurt. Jenni stood by one wall, chains of purple energy wrapping around her as Jane stood like a statue, still gripped by the Warlock's hand. Alley felt despair from Jane and it matched her own.

Suddenly they were not alone.

"A bit overdone." Everything stopped as Loki from the bridge appeared nearby! He was garbed as a modern human, not a character from a movie and his face was sad, not malicious. Then again, only in Marvel comics had he ever been truly evil and even there he was always more mischievous and misguided than a bad guy just for the sake of being a bad guy. He shook his head as the Warlock goggled at him. He waved at the throne. "Thrones are meant to be symbolic, but _that_ is a bit overdone, don't you think? Compensating for something, are we?"

"Who are you?" The Warlock demanded as he took hold of Jane's arm.

"Me?" Loki inquired and then shook his head. He looked at Alley and- Was that a _wink?_ It _was! _He actually shrugged. "No one of consequence." He actually quoted 'The Princess Bride' and the Warlock all but gawked at him. Alley managed a snicker and Loki smiled. "Nice to see that movie is remembered. They had some _very_ good jokes."

"I am the Dread Pirate Roberts." Alley managed to croak through her pain and Loki's smile grew wider, if still tinged with sorrow.

"Inconceivable!" Loki replied as the Warlock snarled at him. "Now, now. Don't be crude. I am not here to interfere. If I _was_, you would be even more dead right now." His calm words were an act, he was poised and ready as the Warlock threw power at him. it sailed right through him and vanished in the distance. "That was quite rude." He complained. "Also dumb. Like I am going to stand here and let you hit me? I am not here to kick your ass as you richly deserve. Dear old Dad was quite clear that I can only watch. There are some rules that even _I_ know not to break." He looked at Alley and shook his head. "Alley, you cannot save him. He has to save himself."

"_I know_." Alley screamed that through the power hitting her. "He does not know how!"

"And you cannot do it for him." Loki chided her, but gently as he knelt down beside her, utterly ignoring the Warlock's sputters. "There is a very old human saying; 'You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink'. There are limits, Alley. Even for such as me, there are limits. You know this."

"I do." Alley's sorrow was pooling out of her in salty waves as Loki reached down to pat her arm.

"You have a good soul, Alley." Loki rose back to his feet and stepped back. "I am honored to be here. To see this. Do what you have to." There was no bite in his words, but no give either. No hate, but no mercy.

"What are you blathering about?" The Warlock grabbed Jane's arm and started to pull her towards throne, but he couldn't seem to budge her. "What have you done?" He demanded of Loki.

"Me?" Loki asked, too all appearances bored now. "Nothing. _You_ are the one who has royally screwed up. Enslaving Jenni was a mistake. She is one of my mom's people. My mom may not be as famous as my dad, but only an _idiot_ makes her angry." He actually shuddered. "Hel truly hath no fury like a pissed off goddess of love." He shook his head. "Angering one of them is almost as bad an idea as angering a _mother_."

There was an odd inflection on the last word. What was he-? Alley's thoughts slithered to a halt and she staggered mentally as realization struck. In the real world, Alley wasn't a mother and could never be one. But this _wasn't_ the real world! Alley stared at him and yes! He winked again! Alley focused herself and the pain faded. She could feel Jane's fear, shock, rage, sorrow, all of that and she gathered it in. She pulled Jane's mind close, held it tight and soothed Jane as she had once soothed her first partner. Jane's face turned towards her, and the stiff features eased with her pain.

"Alley… What?" Jane's words were both mental and aloud even as the Warlock pulled on her arm. He might as well have been trying to move a mountain with a dinner fork.

"It is all right, Jane." Alley said quietly as she slithered to where Jenni stood motionless. "You are who you are. You live, you fight. It is what you do. You bother me at times, but I do love you. I would not change you for all the money in the universe." She shook her head as Jenni raised hers, as if it invite a strike to the neck. "No, Jenni. You have suffered enough." Instead of striking, Alley reached out and somehow took hold of the purple energy chains that surrounded the woman. The Warlock screamed in rage as the bonds parted like paper under her hands and she was suddenly coiling around Jenni as the woman started to cry. "It is all right, Jenni. It is all right."

"I messed it all up, Alley!" Jenni pleaded as Alley crooned to her.

"A bit, but it wasn't just you." Alley reassured the woman as she focused her mind and yes, she found what she sought. The link that bound the woman to the Warlock. It was pervasive, that link, bound through the enslaved woman in far too many ways for Alley to sense, let alone counter. That had been the plan all along, Alley realized. Jenni was functionally immortal, as a brain held in a stasis container. Hiding his fortress inside a quantum bubble inside one of her brain cells had been a stroke of genius and madness on the part of the Warlock. Alley felt a tinge of appreciation at the sheer audacity. It was vastly overshadowed by her rage. Alley could not break it. She didn't have to!

"Alley, please!" Jenni begged as she cried. "Save Jane!"

"I will, although she will not thank me for this." Alley took hold of Jenni head in gentle hands and Jenni relaxed as best she could as the Viper eased the woman's pain with both psi powers and gentle caresses.

"It is not in her to forgive such." Jenni agreed. "She cannot forgive herself for what she sees as failing me. That is what let him in."

"I know." Alley sighed, deeply inhaling the scent of the woman. There was an odd sensation, almost a fragrance to her senses. It was almost like the Lady! Alley looked at Loki and the being, whoever he really was, nodded just a little. The Warlock was doing something, but Alley ignored that as she started to sing.

'_From the day we arrive on the planet,_

_And blinking, step into the sun_  
_There's more to be seen than can ever be seen_  
_More to do than can ever be done '_

Her voice wasn't nearly as good as Arisha's. She wasn't a singer by trade like her fellow psi was, but suddenly, she felt Arisha's mind touch hers and the music swelled within her. More than one voice was signing with her as she continued the intro song of the folk tale that had become one of the most famous of Disney's movies. 'The Lion King' had been so many things to so many people. Other voices joined in, male and female. Some were practiced, others were rough, but all were heartfelt as Alley continued.

'_Some say eat or be eaten_  
_Some say live and let live_  
_But all are agreed as they join the stampede_  
_You should never take more than you give'_

The power was imbalanced. Jenni had broken the balance when she had done the things she had done. What X-Com had done to her after was just icing on the cake. From w hat little Alley could feel from her, she was powerful beyond belief, but also afraid. So afraid now and her fear swept through the alien psi like a tidal wave. Alley couldn't fight that and she did not bother to try. Instead, she rode the fear. Touching the reservoir of power, even momentarily was daunting to say the least, but Alley was no stranger to fear, to dangerous situations. Add to that, Alley's sheer power as well as her matchless empathy made sure that here and now? The Warlock had _no chance_. Alley continued to sing even as power flayed at her mind again. She ignored it and the pain vanished as quickly as it had appeared. It hit her again and did nothing again! Only when he lashed out at _Jenni_ did the Viper react and then, she broke his attack in time with the music! Other voices she knew joined her. Milodi! The Lady! Everything stopped as _Jane Kelly_ started to sing! Her voice was **bad**. There was no other word for it. It didn't _matter!_

'_It's the Circle of Life  
And it moves us all  
Through despair and hope  
Through faith and love  
'Til we find our place  
On the path unwinding  
In the circle  
The Circle of Life'_

When the music ended, Jenni was crying. Alley was crying. When Alley looked, Jane Kelly had tears falling down her face as is shifted back to pale human skin. Out of the corner of her eye, Alley saw Loki brush a tear of his own away but when she looked his face was stern. Then he winked at her again! When Alley spoke, it was quiet, reverent as she quoted.

"Everything on Earth exists together in a delicate balance. We must respect that balance. We are all connected in the great Circle of Life." She shook her head as she gave Jenni one final squeeze and released her. "Warrior, farmer, healer, builder, we all have our place. Our time. Our wyrd."

"I see why Jane loves you." Jenni reached out with a slow hand to scratch Alley's head behind her hood. "Alley..."

"Go, Jenni." Alley gave the woman a gentle shove towards Loki who bowed to her! She just gave him a look and he held up warding hands.

"Hey!" The God of Mischief said quickly. "I am showing respect! Nothing more." Alley's look became pointed and he sighed. "Marvel has a lot to answer for! I never did half of what they blamed me for. Yes, there was the whole Ragnarok thing, but that wasn't my fault!" Alley crossed her arms and waited. Instead of being angry, he smiled. "Oh, I _do_ like you."

"I… Jane… Alley..." Jenni took a slow, faltering step towards Loki. "I am sorry."

"Don't be." Alley slithered a little away as Jenni made it to Loki's side and he took her hand in a gentle grip. "You made mistakes, but this? No. This is not on you. I will call the debt due on who did it. But you need to leave now. You and Jane both."

"What?" Jane demanded, her skin back as it had been. She jerked away from the Warlock who snarled at her and threw power, it rebounded as Alley shielded her partner. Somehow, Alley was between the human warrior and the alien monster as he recoiled, his own energy eating at his shields.

"This is _my_ fight, Jane." Alley said with a growl as she focused herself. "You will see Jenni again." She looked at Loki who nodded as Jenni started to glow like a rainbow. "Although, you might want to prepare the halls for when Jane gets there."

"Nah." Loki smirked as Jane sputtered. "Valhalla is what it is. They need some shaking up every so often or they get stodgy. They actually know this, hence why I am still around and not bound in that horrid little cave anymore. We know our own, Alley. You and Jane will be welcome when your time comes."

"_Alley!_" Jane screamed as she vanished in a flash of rainbow energy. Jenni was gone too as Alley felt her world shift yet again, this time into an unfamiliar metal cockpit. Loki sat beside her, Alley knew that without looking.

"What do you want her to remember?" The Norse trickster's voice held no mirth now.

"Is that a joke?" Alley demanded as she focused on the unfamiliar controls. But as she expected, her mind made sense of things. This was an X-Com ship but the controls were easy to manipulate with her hands and mind. She could fly it, even though things like the bobble headed alien doll and cigarette lighter on the dash were off putting.

"It wasn't intended as one, but I guess it was." Loki said with a snort that had little humor in it. "That is one problem with being a jokester, even when I want to be serious, sometimes I can't be. Eh, we better let _her_ decide, right?"

"Anything else might make her mad, true." Alley felt her world shift and her screens lit up with another ship. A large saucer composed of purple energy. The Warlock. Moving to attack. "Go on. Let me finish this."

"We _do_ know our own, Alley." Alley felt a touch on her shoulder. No power, just a gentle touch. "This is from me, my dad and my mom: You make us proud. _Make it hurt!_" Then he was gone.

"I will." Alley spun the small ship in whatever space they occupied now and accelerated towards the purple enemy in the distance. Drawn by the pain of a singular mind enslaved to power it. As she closed, she could hear the boy crying mentally and her heart went out to him. Her mind however, armed the ship's weapons and fired even as her com lit up.

"I have nothing to say to you, monster!" Alley snarled as the enemy ship fired back and she evaded it. "These kids are _mine_, not yours. I am taking them as _my_ children now and you will _not_ hold _any_ of them! Sam _will_ be free and your evil will be a _memory!_"

Was it her imagination that a chorus of battle horns sounded as she charged her enemy? Had to be.


	23. Chapter 23

**Ejecting**

The battle, such as it was, was very uneven.

The Warlock's power was undeniable, but it was almost directionless now. His will was finally fading from where it had hidden since his destruction. Alley wasn't sure if he had hidden part of himself in Jenni's mind while she had helped destroy him or something else and in the end, it really didn't matter. Jenni was gone, the last remnants of her hopefully going to somewhere better. Jenni's kids Maya and Mina were safe, or as safe as Alley could make them. Jane would never forsake them now that she knew they still lived. It simply wasn't in Alley's partner to do such things and Alley felt the same way. They would choose their paths. Alley would aid them, teach them as best she could, but then she knew would have to let them go out into the world on their own to seek their own destinies. That had been a failure of many facets of human society before the Elders had come. For so long in so many places on Earth, children had either been an unwanted burden or had been sheltered to the point of being completely unprepared for living life as it really was. For a very long time in human history, having many children had been a necessity, since most of them would not live to adulthood due to the rampant disease and warfare that plagued the world. With the advent of modern medicine and various societal things that had resulted in less widespread warfare, more children had lived. This was a good thing, but many societies had not been prepared for the massive changes that had resulted in much larger populations living to adulthood. Even the best groups had slipped quite a bit in things like education. The Elders had done so much evil, but in the end? They had done a few things _right_. The utterly controlled society they had fabricated for their subjects on Earth had been constrained in many ways, but they had never slacked on educating children.

That paled, however, against the sheer scope of the horrors they had unleashed, so Alley was not going to repeat their mistakes.

A final blast from her ship's weapons tore one entire side off the alien saucer and it hung in space. She was not fooled. He was hoping to get a shot at her with his few remaining weapons as she closed in, so she would not give him the chance.

"Sam. Enough." Alley said quietly, but firmly and a gasp sounded from her com system. "Eject! Now!"

"I don't know how." A very small and scared voice sounded from her com and Alley sighed. She could not approach the remnants of the Warlock's evil safely, but she was not _about_ to kill Sam or leave him in that horror filled energy. His voice turned pleading. "Just end it! Please!"

"You have been abused, just like my nest was." Alley said with a growl, but it wasn't aimed at Sam. "By the exact same beings for the exact same purpose. The Elders, X-Com, the Warlock, all of them did horrors to you. I will not kill you."

"I have… I have done so much bad…" Sam's voice fell. "I… I killed… me." He said weakly. "I can't go back!"

"Sam." Alley fought a sigh. "I don't pretend to understand exactly what happened. What I do know is that you cannot remain in that energy. I can help you but you have to take the first step. I am not asking you to trust. That would be foolish. I am asking you to _live_. Where there is life, there is hope, Sam. You are alive. If you believe _nothing_ else, believe that."

"I remember…" Sam mused. "I was… Samuel Rogers. I was recruited and I flew against aliens. We won, but I died." He gasped. "I was too close to the star when the nova bomb went off! I died." His voice was mix of awe and terror. "My ship came apart in the blast front of the nova! I _died!_"

"Sam!" Alley snarled as he started to cry. "Calm down! I do not know what happened. But you have to come with me now."

"I was Sam'ik." Sam said weakly. "A captain born and raised on Quo'nos, the Klingon homeworld. I went into battle against an overwhelming foe. The Iconians tore my battlecruiser apart! I _died._" He was hysterical now and Alley quailed as the energy in front of her intensified. The Warlock's remnant was drawing power from Sam's fear and pain! She had no idea what to do, but then a pulse came from Alley's link with Jane! A suggestion? How? Alley didn't question, she jumped at the idea. It brought back so many memories, some good, some bad.

"Sam!" Alley snapped. "Time out!" Just like it had with Mark so long ago, the command held with Sam too. Stood to reason, both Sam and Mark had been trained by extraterrestrials, if _very_ different ones.

"Yes, Ma'am." Sam's tone as odd now, calm, but not. The roiling energy in front of Alley subsided, but again, she wasn't fooled. It was just as dangerous now as it had been before.

"I am sorry for what you endured." Alley said quietly. "I know what the Elders did to us. I can only imagine what they did to you. I do not know what happened to you here and I don't care what you have done. You are hurting and I will help you. Come home, Sam. We will handle this."

"Home?" Sam said in a monotone. "I don't have a home."

"Yes, you do." Alley retorted evenly. "Until and unless you prove to me that you are capable of taking care of yourself, you are my responsibility. I have space and resources. You are coming with me." They could have been commanding, her words. They could have been demands. They were not. They were almost begging.

"I… I can't." Sam was crying softly now. "I can't get loose!"

"Yes, you can." Alley retorted. "You just have to want it and you don't, do you?" Sudden silence answered her. "In whatever you encountered, whatever dreams or hallucinations or traveling or whatever you did, you were free! You could do anything you wanted. You could fly anywhere you wanted." There was no answer but Alley continued in a very quiet voice. "Kill anyone you wanted." Now her voice was barely a whisper. "_Except_ the one who did this to you."

"I can't _find_ her." Now, Sam's voice held rage. "I didn't remember until Milodi and Jane Kelly helped me to pass the blocks in my memory. Mom didn't know that evil woman put them in. It wasn't Mom's fault! It was The warlock's! His and that witch Lizbeth's! I… I will kill her! I swear I will kill her!"

"You are too late." Alley was unmoved by the boy's rage. She felt a sudden scrutiny and she continued. "Her body lives, but I destroyed her mind. Her memories are gone. Utterly gone. Just like she did to you. _Just like she __had Easer do__ to Mark._" A gasp came from Sam as _Alley's_ rage found voice. She stepped on it, but it refused to stay gone even as she fought for control. "That arrogant bitch hurt my love! I refuse to let her off easily in death! Killing her won't help! She is immortal! She will come back and probably bring the Warlock's evil with her! He put part of himself in her! If she dies as she is, she will come back. So will he and she would not be able to resist him. I bet that was his plan. To wait and attack people who could not fight him! We cannot let that happen, Sam!"

"I…" Sam's rage faltered and suddenly he sounded a little boy again. "I don't know. I... I just wanted to hurt her. To find her and hurt her. For me. For Maya and Mina. For everyone!"

"Yeah." Alley heaved a sigh. "I know the feeling. I wanted revenge too. We are both torn up inside, Sam. We both lost ones we loved. We are both hurting and will for the rest of our lives. I don't want to lose you. I do not know you yet, but I know Maya and Mina. I like them both. Their love for you comes through clear and strong. I have no right to demand anything after all of what you have suffered, so, instead, I beg. Please come with me. Come home. My kind will fade. I want to leave some kind of positive legacy in this horror struck world we exist in. The Elders did so much damage, to so many. Their evil has been stopped but my time is finite. I cannot fix all of what they did. Maybe if I help you to get past this, you and your siblings, they can help fix what is broken. Help me, Sam. Please?"

"'Finite'?" Sam inquired.

"I am a clone, Sam." Alley finally managed to squelch her rage and now? Only sorrow spoke through her. "I am sterile and nothing I do changes that. I could make myself immortal, but my kind are not meant for such. I would go mad and make more of a mess, I am sure. I will not allow myself to inflict more harm when I can stop it. With my powers, I _can_ make more of my kind, but what right do I have to do that? What right have I to make slaves like the Elders did? Or just make beings who humans will hate and fear because we are so different?" Alley gave herself a shake. "Sam… I can help you. It will take time and I cannot guarantee that none of it will hurt, but I _can_ help you. If you let me. I will not command you. Instead? I ask. Please come with me."

"You…" Sam seemed unsure now. "Why?"

"Because no matter what the Warlock wanted you to be, to me, you are a lost, sick, hurting child in danger." Alley said very softly. "After losing so many of my peers, my friends, my loved ones… Seeing them die and not being able to do anything? I cannot pass by without _trying_."

"I…' Sam had calmed as well. Then he hissed. "I can't! I can't get loose!" He begged as the saucer in front of Alley wavered a bit, but then solidified.

"Yes, you can, Sam." Alley reassured him. "Reach between your legs and pull the lever there. Eject. I will catch you."

"There isn't anything there!" Sam protested.

"This is all in the mind, Sam." Alley explained calmly. "There is if you want it to be. Do you want this to end? Do you you want to go home? If so, assume ejection posture and pull the lever."

"I want…" Sam's voice was a whisper now. "I want to go home."

Space was a vacuum, almost entirely empty. Sound could not travel through an area with nothing to propagate the waves, so there was no way Alley would have been able to hear the sound of an ejection seat firing across a void. But she did. She was ready when a small bit of bright green energy shot out of the purplish mass. She caught it easily and pulled it close, right through the hull of her ship. A scream of rage sounded, but Alley knew her foe and her ship's weapons fired before the Warlock's remnant could do more than voice frustration. The rage turned to anguish as the X-Com ship's bright white beams tore the saucer to pieces but she continued to fire, the purple energy fading with each hit. The energy her weapons were firing felt wrong to her mind because they had been designed to kill alien psionics like her. With each hit, the energy diminished, the Warlock's evil vanishing bit by bit as she set the beams to rapid fire and they continued to burn the monster's remnant to nothing. She had something far more important to focus on.

Sam was crying as she cradled his energy close and it morphed into a small brown haired boy who she cradled in gentle arms as he sobbed.

"It is all right, Sam." Alley reassured him as she checked him carefully. There were no traces of the Warlock's energy in his. He had done it, freed himself. "It is all right."

"I wanna go home." Sam pleaded as he buried his face in Alley's scales. "Please? I just wanna go home."

"So do I." Alley hugged the boy gently and then she looked up at the Warlock's energy as the last bit faded, her ship's weapons shutting down as their target disintegrated. "And now? We can." With a flip of her mind, she was back in the room with the vat brain and Maya's tube. The girl was back in it? When? How? A question for later. Doctor Cooper and Valere both stood beside the vat, both looking shocked as Alley laid Sam on the bed. He stared at her and she bent down and kissed his forehead. He smiled at her, shuddered once and fell asleep. Alley spoke before either of them did. "Jenni is gone."

Not a question.

"Yes." Doctor Cooper broke free of his paralysis and stepped to Sam's bedside as Alley moved to let him close. She did not let go of Sam's hand which she held. "The brain disintegrated before our eyes. Maya was having complications, so we had to put her body back into stasis. What happened?"

"The Warlock is gone." Alley said quietly as Doctor Cooper started to check Sam's vitals. "That is all I can say. I won't be allowed to remember much of what just happened." At that, the Doctor and Valere both hissed, but Alley just bowed her head. "There are rules for a reason."

"This boy is a thought form." Doctor Cooper said slowly. "Alley…"

"I take responsibility. Either we save his old body, or I will make him a new one." Alley said formally. "His mind is intact, if _very_ confused. He too has experienced things that he must _not_ remember. I am betting he won't when he wakes. I am betting _I_ won't remember much of what happened when _I_ wake." Her free hand moved to caress Sam's cheek. "But one thing I _will_ remember. If anyone _else_ hurts my kids, they _die._"

"Alley." Doctor Cooper was glowing softly yellow now, with his own Mother seeing through his eyes.

"Enough is enough, Lady. I know my limits. I cannot do it alone and I am about to collapse from exhaustion." Alley reassured her. "I need to talk to my nest and we need to get out of here before whatever self destructs are in place go off." the Doctor and Valere stared at her and Alley shook her head. "You know X-Com paranoia better than most, Doctor. Whatever they have here will be ticking down."

"It is." A familiar voice. Alley was not actually surprised when Jian stepped into the room. The Asian looking woman nodded to the others."We can extract the boy, Maya's pod and you Matron, but Doctor Cooper and Valere need to go now." She paused as both shook their heads. "Doctor." She groaned.

"I stay with my patients." The Doctor's voice was mild, but from his stance? He wasn't going to budge. "And you know I can keep a secret."

"You have enough on your shoulders, doctor." Alley tried to summon spit to knock him out, but her strength failed and she collapsed almost on top of Sam. "I…"

"Alley, shut up." Doctor Cooper took hold of one of her arms and Valere took the other. "Save your strength." He turned to Jian who decidedly amused. "If you can get us out of here, now is the time."

"You will see things that the Lady will prefer you not to." Jian warned as a pair of soldiers in red uniforms stalked in. They had a white cobra emblazoned on their chest armor and shoulders. They ignored the group to move to Maya's pod. They were clearly stronger than human, since they took the massive thing in their hands, picked it up and strode from the room carrying it!

"I bet." Doctor Cooper said with a small smile as a woman in black catsuit and black glasses entered the room. The red cobra on her chest armor was distinctive. His eyes widened and then she came to a sudden stop as he bowed to her. "Baroness."

"Uh…" The woman turned to Jian who made 'why me?' gesture.

"Not quite." Alley managed as Jian fought for equilibrium. "Um… I think I met you. I don't remember but the costume is distinctive. None us should remember, should we?"

"We will have to discuss that." Jian sighed and waved the black garbed woman to the bed. She moved to it picked up Sam and left the room without a word. "Whatever happens, I am not going to cross the Lady." She moved to Alley's side and laid her hand on Alley's crest. "Rest now, Matron. This battle is done and you are victorious."

"We… need… to…" Alley fought the darkness that was clouding her vision. Why did she hear a horse? Why was there another hand on her crest? A familiar one? She fought to open her eyes, but darkness claimed her. Wings beats bore her up and she was not afraid. Not now. Then she knew no more

* * *

(Somewhere)

Doctor Cooper and Valere did not move as the world around them shifted to some kind of hangar bay. Neither of them dared to _breathe_ as the armored being holding Alley laid her down for the Baroness to scan. Only when she was done did he move back to his winged horse and mount. Jian inclined her head to him and the Baroness did as well. He smiled at them, nodded to the Doctor and Valere and with a kick of his heels, his horse jumped and vanished in a rush of wing beats.

"I thought Valkyrie were all female." Valere said into utter silence as everyone in the bay took a deep breath.

"I don't argue with gods." Jian said with a smile as she looked around. "_Especially_ Norse ones. It gets so _noisy_." She snickered at Valere's expression and then her face fell. "Better than you do not remember this, young lady."

"I know." Valere sat down beside Alley and looked a question at the Baroness who nodded. Valere lay down fully and closed her huge black eyes. The Baroness patted her hand and Valere's face relaxed into sleep.

"That is… _very_ well done. Fully functional and almost totally authentic." Doctor Cooper looked around, taking in the insignia everywhere. The same cobra head, but in many colors. Finally, he looked back at Jian and made a face. "Please tell me Doctor Mindbender is not going to show up." At that, the Baroness barked a laugh as Jain sputtered. Doctor Cooper shrugged. "My dad was a nut for that TV show. He had the whole collection."

"Really?" The black clad woman asked as she rose to step to his side.

"All but a few pieces that were really hard to come by and expensive as hell. He spent way too much money on it. Mom really hated how much he 'wasted' on 'toys'." Doctor Cooper reached out and took her hand when she offered it. He smiled at her and Jian. "I know when not to inquire. How can I help?"

"Alley and Jane will need time to come to grips with their new situation." Jian said quietly. "They will not wish to give themselves that time. They are vulnerable right now and the kids as well even with all the help they have been given. I cannot interfere but so much now that Alley is out of danger."

"Alley's nest will help." Doctor Cooper offered as the Baroness guided him to sit.

"Yes, they will, but this is not a mission for covert ops." Jian said with a frown.

"Then what do we need?" Cooper asked as his world turned gray.

"Flight Ops."


	24. Chapter 24

**Catapult**

The atmosphere in the base where the kids had been hidden was tense but this room was not. Doctor Cooper had made absolutely sure of that. Alley lay in one bed, Jane Kelly in another right beside the Viper's. Both were relaxed in sleep but no one else was.

"Keep it quiet." Doctor Cooper said firmly as he let Cable and Ana into the room. "They need sleep now more than anything else." Both nestmates stopped short as they saw who else was in the room. Sam lay on a bed near one wall, still asleep, his face stricken with fear and pain that even Alley's love could not erase quickly. Maya's tube sat beside Jane Kelly's bed and Mina slumbered beside Alley.

"Ana?" Cable all but begged. The Viper looked at Doctor Cooper who nodded. She slid forward to check Alley, Mina and then Jane Kelly with the speed that only a snake trained as a professional could hope to match. Only after she turned and smiled at him did Cable relax. He slumped a bit and nodded to the doctor. "We needed to see them."

"I understand." Doctor Cooper did. After all of what happened to them, the betrayals, the losses, the horror, Alley's nest could not trust _anyone_ outside their ranks with the possible exception of Jane Kelly. "Do you want to leave one of yours to guard?"

Ana and Cable shared a glance and then Ana slid back to the Doctor's side while Cable moved to a free space by one wall. The doctor looked at him and the human nestmate shrugged.

"Staying still and quiet is what I do." The sniper did not smile, but he did nod as Cooper made a face.

"True, but _you_ will need rest as well." The Doctor said firmly, but still quiet. "Do not think to fool me that you are not exhausted. I am and I barely remember all of what happened." Cable nodded and assumed a position of parade rest. Doctor Cooper stared at him, but paused in whatever he was going to say as Ana laid a slim hand on his arm.

"We can talk outside." Ana did not pull him, but he got the feeling she would if she had to. The less said about the fate of anyone else who tried to hurt Alley the better. "Better him in here than one of Oshina's people."

"True." Just the thought of a Muton trying to be 'quiet' had Doctor Cooper wince and smile as one. The image was just too funny. Mutons were bigger, stronger and tougher than almost anything else on Earth. They generally didn't _need_ to do quiet. They could, they just didn't bother most of the time. "I know you are not human anymore, Cable, but please? It has been a bad day." Doctor Cooper looked at Maya's tube and his face fell.

"Yes, it has." Cable unbent and smiled at the doctor for a moment. "We will set up a guard rotation but Ana needs to reassure the others." Now, his face hardened. "No one will touch Maya again."

Doctor Cooper wanted to say something, but he had no idea _what_ to say. He contented himself with a nod and moved to the door, Ana at his side almost protectively. Doctor Cooper smiled at her, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Is there nothing you can do?" Ana asked very quietly as the door closed behind them.

"No." The human physician said sadly. "Her body was damaged beyond repair by what was done in that base. It was being _dissolved_. Whatever Alley did to stop the process worked, but the damage was done. Even in stasis, her body will fail and there is _nothing_ I can do about it."

"Her mind is not in that body." Ana said a bit dubiously and Doctor Cooper nodded.

"Yes, that is one _small_ blessing to this mess." The Doctor led Ana into a room where many people stood waiting. Jack, Aroa, Jesse and Arisha stood in a small cluster near one wall, likely a trained defensive response to unknown situations. Ana nodded to her nestmates and they relaxed a bit. Two Mutons stood by the other door, both armored and fully armed. Two X-Com warriors stood beside them, looking far less dangerous than the hulking aliens. That was an illusion and everyone knew it. Syndrome was incredibly powerful, even for a psi and the human woman beside him had a Gremlin drone hovering beside her. It was the horde of small forms that stood or sat in bleacher like seating at the other wall that drew the eye. Valere sat in their midst, the non-human girl's face professionally blank, but the Doctor could feel her pain and sorrow. Doctor Cooper ignored everyone else as he moved to stand in front of the kids. Not that they were. The youngest of them was twelve now, but she looked _two_. None of them aged after what the Elders did to them and all of them were far smarter and better educated than any kid had any right to be. When Cooper spoke, it was to them. "Alley was exhausted when she came back from whatever she did. She and Jane Kelly are uninjured physically. They need rest now. As to the other? I have no idea how Alley did what she did, but the mind in that body is your brother's."

"Doctor, that is not possible." A dark skinned boy said slowly as all of the not-child kids stared at one another. "We felt him die. What happened?"

"Do not ask that, Chris." A familiar voice sounded from Valere's hands and everyone stared at her as she held up a small box. A speaker. "We are not cleared for that information."

"Maya!" That was pure ten year old from the dark skinned boy.

"We. Are. Not. Cleared." Maya's voice might have bent iron. "What is more? You do _not_ want to know. What little I know _scares the hell out of me_." Maya wasn't a little girl any more than Chris was a little boy, but for just a moment, a terrified little girl spoke through her speaker.

"Easy, Maya." The human doctor all but crooned. "The only way to earn wisdom is through experience. Usually painful experience." Doctor Cooper said as the boy recoiled a little from Maya's vehemence. "Let go of your fear, Maya. We will not let you pass. Alley swore it before and I swear it now."

"Doctor…" Maya's voice was calmer, but resigned. "There are limits even to psi powers. I did what I did. I knew the risks and I accepted them. I did what had to be done, so…"

"Stop." Everyone paused as Arisha spoke up. She was so quiet, so calm and gentle that it was easy to dismiss the soother. That was usually a mistake. She was just as dangerous in her own way as any Viper. She wasn't a timid soul, not even close, but she was so polite that many people took her for one. Most realized the mistake fairly quickly and never made it again. "Maya, be calm. This has been a traumatic episode for everyone. Alley swore for all of us. We will find a way to help you." Her calm gaze swept the room, lighting on each of the children. "_All_ of you."

"But…" Maya sputtered, but Arisha was having none of it.

"Enough, Maya." The Viper slithered to where Valere sat, the non human girl's face ashen and took the speaker from her. "You are scared and you have every right to be. We are _all_ scared and confused, girl. You are not alone. Not now. Not _ever_. We cannot touch you physically at the moment and it doesn't matter. We _know_ about losing kin and _we will not lose you!_" All of her nestmates nodded emphatically as she cradled the speaker close. A sob came from it and Arisha crooned at it. "It is okay to be afraid, girl but you will never be alone again. Marina and the others have been updated on the situation. As of this moment, they are searching _every_ file we have access to. We will find a way to help you. To undo what EXALT did to you _and_ what the Elders did to your family. So get used to staying. You are going _nowhere_." That last was a growled hiss of exasperation.

"Yes, Ma'am." Maya's hushed voice was not as afraid now. Wary, yes, but not afraid. Arisha looked at Doctor Cooper who smiled at her and she returned it.

"Well said, Arisha." Doctor Cooper moved to stand by the Viper and fought a sigh as she flinched back from him. It wasn't her fault that she had been so abused as a nestling. That she and Jesse were the only survivors of _their_ nest. He did not miss that both Jesse and Jack had tensed as he approached her. At least neither had drawn weapons. This time. "Alley didn't have time to tell me much, but the threat that we faced is past. The Warlock is gone and his weapon was destroyed. The base exploded so there is no chance of that being a threat again."

"Advent is moving to scour the ruins." Came from Jack and everyone looked at him. "Is there any chance of them finding any remnant?" He asked Syndrome who looked at the floor.

"I want to say 'No'." Syndrome said sourly. "But none of _us_ knew about that horrible place to begin with. Secrets within secrets and lie within lies let us survive, but…" He broke off with a sigh before continuing. "Those secrets and lies bit us today. It could have been so much worse. If not for Alley, it would have been. I felt some of what she did, but I know better than to press. There are limits for a reason." He bowed to Arisha!

"That there are." Arisha smiled at Syndrome but her heart wasn't in it. "We cannot let this happen again. We mustn't."

"No, we must not." Doctor Cooper agreed. "The Elders may be gone, but their evil lingers. Their Chosen are gone, but their actions left damage that will take decades or longer to repair. What this episode has shown us is that we are all vulnerable to assaults from space. We need some kind of defense against that, but none of us trust one another." He slumped a bit. "Not surprising, but sad." Arisha startled him as she slid close and wrapped an arm around him. He stared at her and she smiled at him. He shot a quick look at the other nestmates, but they were no more excited than ever. "Arisha?"

"There is _one_ person that everyone who knows him trusts." Arisha said quietly. "You have done no harm that I know of." The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but Arisha continued. "Your mother has recused herself from any leadership beside her immediate group. She feels shame for what her kind did. She had nothing to do with that, but she does feel ashamed. It is not her fault or yours. I have been thinking about a lot recently. Human history abounds with those in power abusing their power. Maybe the ends justified the means, maybe it didn't. What the Elders did to so many when they came to this world _define_ the words 'abuse of power'." She gave him a squeeze and released him. "We cannot go that way. We must not. Alone, we are all vulnerable." She looked him in the eyes and he paused. Was she about to- She did! "The Elders came here hoping to be cured of a mortal illness. One that was caused by _their enemies_." At her calm words, everyone froze. "Enemies that will likely chase them here."

"Arisha…" Jesse said very softly as Jack and Aroa both stilled completely. Ana shook her head and slithered to Arisha's side.

"Secrets just killed a lot of people." Arisha said softly. "Not all of them were extraterrestrials, either, were they?" She asked Syndrome who was a statue. He didn't answer, his companion did.

"No. We are still reconning the bases that were attacked." The woman beside Syndrome said slowly. "We have found human bodies but we are not sure why they were there. None were armed, so, servants? Human shields? Dinner? We do not know."

"Does it matter, Feedback?" Syndrome asked heavily. "Humans were there. They died. _We _did that. X-Com's base was subverted by the Warlock, but the _weapon_ was _ours_. We caused that with our secrets. We did that." He repeated.

"_The Warlock_ did that." Arisha and Doctor Cooper chorused that. They eyed one another and more than one person smiled.

"Arisha, you cannot ask people who have spent their whole lives fighting to simply stop." Jesse said slowly.

"I am not." Arisha's smile was wide now as Doctor Cooper stared at her. Then he hissed as realization struck. What better use for people who could fight than to protect those who could not? But none of these warriors would trust their enemies. So, who did that leave? _Him!_

"You are not serious!" Doctor Cooper protested. "I am a doctor! That is all I am."

"You are a healer." Arisha replied evenly as most of the people in the room stared at the pair in confusion. "This needs healing." Everyone started talking at once except the Mutons but paused as Arisha held up a hand. "Let him think."

"Arisha, I cannot do such a thing alone!" Doctor Cooper protested.

"No one will ask anything of you that you do not wish to do." Arisha was still quiet. "You know what Alley and Jane Kelly will do if anyone tries to force you to do anything." She made a slightly sick face that he shared. More than one person in the room winced. Yeah, it would get _very_ messy.

"Arisha, I am as much of a mess as anyone else here. Maybe more." The Doctor tried again. "And… I do not want to fight! The very thought makes me ill."

"That is good." Arisha smiled at him as he goggled at her. "Leaders who _want_ war are dangerous to everyone around them." At that, everyone nodded, even the Mutons! She sighed, a very human gesture from a six foot long snake woman. "Doctor, I am not pressing anything. I have no agenda, no plan. I am trying to see how to help my suddenly greatly extended family in their hardship. I know that my nest are not good for leading." At that, all of her nestmates nodded. "We were made to follow orders. To be disposable weapons. We are more than that now, thanks to help from your mother among others. She won't stay here." She said very softly and he stilled. "You know that."

"I… I…" For the first time in a long, long time, Doctor Cooper felt as if the world had fallen to pieces around him. He felt the love of the Ethereal that was bonded to him sweep through him, but also sorrow. Fear. She didn't have to say anything. He knew. "They will hunt her, won't they?"

"That is my fear. That beings who gave the _Elders_ pause are on their way here as we speak. To kill any and every Ethereal they can find. Even an innocent one." Arisha was close again, and this time, she did not retreat as he reached out to her. His fear for his mother's life was just as strong as it had ever been. She took his hand in her free one. "As with my family, _you_ are not alone, Doctor Cooper. We stand for you and with you."

Suddenly, she was coiled around him, a gentle, warm scaled hug as she laid her head on his shoulder. He fought for control as Ana slid close as well, then Aroa. The Lady's love was with him and the others, but...

All he could do was cry.

* * *

An hour later

Doctor Cooper was still crying as Arisha led him through the halls. The meeting had adjourned when it became clear that he was unable to continue. The nest had helped, the kids had helped, even the Mutons and X-Com troopers had helped in their own silent, stoic way, but he could not stop crying. The Lady's sorrow had overwhelmed him and then she had retreated to keep from harming him further. He felt bereft. He knew she was there. He could still feel her, but…

"Easy." Arisha's croon cut through his fear and grief as she stopped him in place. When she spoke again, it wasn't to him. "I am _such_ an idiot! I should have brought him here immediately."

"Don't beat yourself up, Aunt Arisha." That voice! That voice was familiar! Young, but not. He fought for control as a cloth wiped the tears off his face. "No one is perfect. I am here, I will help."

Someone was pulling his shirt off! The hands were small but strong. Arisha's hand shifted as his shirt came off and warm cloth surrounded him. A robe? Now, Arisha was holding him off the floor and the same small handed person pulled his pants off! He protested, but Arisha was having none of it.

"No." Arisha said firmly. "You are in no shape to shower on your own. Right now, you _patient_. _We_ doctors. We will take care of you. We do it a lot in Alley's facility. At least _you_ are not _pregnant_." Was she laughing at him?

The next few minutes were a blur. He was wet and cold, but then hot air blew over him and he was warmed. The warm cloth surrounded him. Fuzzy cloth. A robe again and a towel wrapped his wet head. Warm. Comforting.

"Easy, doctor." That same tantalizingly familiar voice! "A few steps and a nice place to rest. You have been stressed as badly as any of us have. Mom is ready, Aunt Arisha."

"I hope _he_ is." Arisha's rejoinder was worried, but Doctor Cooper could not muster the energy to reassure her as he bumped into something and she made a noise that was half sigh, half moan. "Up you get, dear."

He was spent. He could not even get his hands to move and was far beyond resisting as two sets of hands, one small, and one large lifted him up and deposited him on a yielding surface. A yielding surface with two warm masses! He managed to crack his eyes and saw _Mina_ sleeping beside him! He didn't need to turn to know he was in the bed with Alley and Mina!

"No!" He tried, but a blue skinned hand reached into his vision, power flared and he saw a small face as his vision blacked out.

Lizbeth, but _not_. Young, maybe ten Earth years old? That paled beside her_ blue skin_. She was a _Chosen!_

He took that impossible vision into sleep as Arisha started to sing a lullaby. He never heard the second verse.


	25. Chapter 25

**Leaders**

The room was small and comfortably appointed. A bookcase sat against one wall and a small wooden table sat in the middle. A small protrusion arched up from the floor that Alley was coiled around. Jane Kelly sat in an armchair beside Alley, close enough that she could touch her partner easily. Their hands were joined. Doctor Cooper sat in another chair, not as close, but not too far away either. If he wished, he could reach out and touch either of them although he would have to stretch to reach Jane. Alley smiled at him and his fear receded along with his sadness.

"What is going on?" Doctor Cooper started to ask and stilled as a small blue skinned form appeared beside his chair! Lizbeth carried a tray that held three glasses. What was in those? It was white, and frothy? She looked perhaps ten years old, if with very old and odd eyes. She had slit pupils like a snake, but her gaze was warm and friendly. She wore a dress that looked subtly like Advent wear, but not. Definitely high tech, but the blue color was anything but Advent. Almost cheerful!

"Milk, sir." Lizbeth bobbed her head to the unspoken question as Cooper stared at her. "You need the nourishment and the cows don't mind." She smiled at him, but it was melancholy. "It has been pasteurized."

"He won't trust." Alley said quietly as she reached out with her free hand to take a glass off the tray. "He cannot after what you did. Thank you for being so thoughtful, girl, but we need to talk, just the three of us. Leave them here and make sure we are not disturbed, please?" Alley waved to the table and Lizbeth bowed to her, not shifting the tray.

"Yes, Mother." Lizbeth laid the tray on the table well within reach of all of the chairs, did a deep curtsy to all three of the occupants of the room and vanished. No muss, no fuss, no pyrotechnics. Just gone.

"'Mother'." Jane Kelly hadn't moved. "What did you do, Alley?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Alley inquired as she took a sip of the fluid in her glass and sighed in contentment. "I gave her a new life. I took responsibility for her. I took control of her and I will pay for that eventually, but in the end? She needed the help to break the Warlock's chains." Doctor Cooper stared at her in horror. "It was real." Alley was sad and quiet now. "I did enslave her but I will not be cruel. Her skin…" She sighed. "The Warlock was trying to make her like him. A slave to _him_ instead of the Elders. As broken as she was, the _only_ way to free her was to take her reins myself. To do that? I had to break his control, shatter his attention and remove the danger of her memories. I regret that but with her memories gone, she is a good kid." The snake woman smiled wistfully. "Most of the time."

"You…" Doctor Cooper shook his head. "What did you _do?_"

"I erased her memory. All of it. She is and is not a thought form, Doctor. She is different. Unique as far as I can tell." Alley said sadly. "Lizbeth had a duty that was bound to her on the deepest possible level. Deeper than genetics, deeper even than psi powers. I found a way to show her that her duty was done. Once she was freed from that duty, she had no guiding force to push her. I explained what happened, told her I could release her, let her go to be whoever she wanted. She chose to be my child. To fix some of what she broke." She bowed her head. "I am both humbled and a bit frightened by that. For so long, I knew I would never have children and now? I have many."

"She hurt you." Jane said slowly.

"She hurt _many_, Jane." Alley corrected her partner. "Many more than we will ever know. But you of all people know what the Warlock did to her. What Advent technology and psi power did to her. You saw it in battle so many times, just as I saw it from the other side." Alley would not meet her partner's gaze. "I saw some of what he did to her when I erased her mind and it will haunt me for the rest of my days. Killing her would not be easy, but it would be possible. That said, she is not a bad person now, Jane. She wants to help. She wants to make things as right as she can."

"She _hurt you_." Jane's rage was still fanned and Alley nodded.

"She did." Alley agreed. "At the Warlock's behest, mind you. She had almost as much free will as your sword does." Jane and Doctor Cooper stared at Alley but it was the Doctor who groaned.

"That's not start _that_ argument." The sole male in the room said with feeling. "You take responsibility for her?"

"I do." Alley replied. "As I said, once she was lucid, I offered to remove the controls that I placed and she _refused_." At that, both of the humans in the room stilled. "She says that she cannot trust herself. She trusts _me_." Alley slumped a bit. "I wish _I _did. She has promised that she will not act in any way that endangers me or my nest. She has sworn that in a way that I find it very hard to contemplate her breaking. She includes you and the doctor in that, Jane."

"And you believe her?" Jane demanded tightly.

"I do." Alley smiled at Jane. "I have done more than I should have. Jian is a bit cross with me, but I have taken steps not to cause too many ripples." She made a face. "Here, anyway. Lizbeth is not to blame, Jane. The Warlock was and he paid for it. Lizbeth herself _demanded_ to be bait for a trap for him in case he ever comes back." Jane jerked. "If he does, he dies again as many times as it takes to make sure he stays gone." The last was cold.

"You didn't have time to _heal_ her, let alone…" Doctor Cooper trailed off as Alley looked at him. "I… I don't want to know!" He said quickly.

"Wise." Alley took another slow sip of her milk. "Let's just say that I have done things that skirted a number of rules. I have dealt with things, people, that _bent_ rules. I have not _broken_ any and I have no intention of doing so." Her shoulders arched in a Viper-ish shrug as she finished her glass and set the empty back on the tray. "Your milk is getting warm."

"I can't trust her." Jane released Alley's hand and sat back in her chair, her face severe. The Doctor stared at her and then shook his head, crossing his arms. Alley shrugged again and picked up another glass to sip from.

"No one is asking you to, Jane." Alley reassured her partner. "Right now? We need to discuss what will happen next. I did something truly horrible. It was needed, so I have few regrets except that I abused _your_ trust, Jane. I promised you that I would not act like that and I did." She looked at the floor. "I saw no other options and every plausible scenario I had others run on possibilities came out bad."

"'Others'?" Jane inquired tightly. "What others?"

Doctor Cooper was not actually surprised when one wall of the small room shifted and the Lady appeared nearby, but what stood beside the Lady was a surprise. Priestess Milodi looked _awful. _Her skin was almost as white as her patient gown. Her hybrid eyes were dim with fatigue, pain and fear, but her smile was bright. Was her skin orange tinted or was that a trick of the light? Jane started to rise, but Milodi shook her head. Another chair appeared beside the table and Milodi sat in it with a grunt. Jane sank back into her chair, her face a study.

_Do not overexert._ The Lady warned. _After all of this, we will not let you __perish__. _Amusement flared from the Ethereal as Milodi growled at her. _Temper, priestess._ _Drink your milk._ Then she was gone.

"I am weak, but alive, thanks to all of you." Milodi said with a smile as she took the last glass of milk to sip it. "I had time to think. To talk to various people. Much of that was like this, on mental planes. Alley asked for help and those of us who could gave it. She takes far too much on herself."

"Pot meet kettle." Alley muttered into her glass.

"You have done horrors just as I have, Alley. The Elders used us both and we had to fight to survive." Milodi said to the Viper. She nodded to Jane. "Just as X-Com had to. We have to look forward, not back. More threats will come and we need to be ready. They may not come in our lifetimes, so we need to lay a solid groundwork."

"Anything we build, humans will tear down." Jane said quietly as everyone looked at her. "Either through ignorance, greed, hate or fear. You know this. It is what we are best at."

"You are wrong." Alley corrected her partner brightly enough that Jane stared at her. "What humans are best at is _imagining_." She shook her head. "I do not have the sheer scope of imagination that you humans take for granted, Jane. I never will. I am what I am, if slightly less limited now after Easer's alterations." Jane looked as if she wanted to argue, but both Cooper and Milodi nodded, faces sad. Jane slumped a bit as Alley nodded as well. "That is not an insult, Jane. It is what it is."

"It _feels_ like an insult." Jane reached out to take Alley's hand again. "Alley…" She gave the Viper's hand a squeeze and then sighed. "What do you propose?"

"Democracy is not the best form of human governance, it is just the best they had _found_ before the Elders came." Alley squeezed Jane's hand back as she set her now empty glass back on the table. "No matter the species, people are going to be people." Milodi nodded to that, but focused on her drink. "Some will be good, some will be bad, others will be indifferent. Earth is a mess right now and we need to think about how to fix what we can. At the same time, we must not neglect our defenses. I am not going anywhere, Jane."

"I don't remember all of what happened…" Jane mused. "But I did remember feeling you were lost at least once." Desolation showed in her eyes as she gripped Alley's hands. "Don't do that to me, Alley. I… As strong as I am, after I lost Jenni, I went nuts." She looked away. "I don't think I can do that again."

"I know." Alley let Jane hold one hand. Not judging, accepting. "I saw no better choices, Jane. I am sorry I scared you, but it needed to be done. The Warlock's remnant needed to be stopped. His weapon needed to be stopped. Both of them are gone and we are still standing. That is a win." She frowned. "Now? I have many reasons not to leave again." She looked at Doctor Cooper. "You are not alone, Doctor. Not now. Not ever. I hope you can accept me with all of my flaws, because I am _not_ going to leave you to suffer alone." The Doctor was shaking his head, but he stilled as she held out her free hand to him. "We are what we are. Survivors. We understand the personal costs of war. This world is so broken, so fragile still… We need to do better. Help us? Please?" She begged the Doctor as he stared at her hand.

"What are you saying, Alley?" Milodi asked into the sudden stillness.

"For almost all of recorded human history, it was always about 'us' and 'them'." Alley said with a slow nod to the hybrid. "Different continents, different skin colors, different languages, all divided the whole. Tribes were all that mattered. If you are not of us, then you are of them. Not to be trusted. To be taken advantage of. To be attacked, abused, lied to or just ignored because you are not of _us_." Alley's words were soft, not angry. Sad. "For so long X-Com had to fight in secret because no one wanted to know what was actually happening. The Elders put paid to that. Humanity knows that it is not alone in the universe now and there are a lot of beings out there who do not like anyone else." Alley smiled, but there was little humor in it. "This is another case of 'us' versus 'them'. Just not all of 'us' are human now."

"Alley…" The Doctor groaned. "You cannot assume that every extraterrestrial is like the Elders."

"No." Alley agreed. "But we cannot assume that they are like the Lady either." Jane stared from the Viper to the human and back, clearly confused. Milodi spoke up next.

"Alley, what do you propose then?" The hybrid was tired but she was calm as she sipped her milk. "We cannot live in fear."

"No, we can't." Alley agreed. "The Speaker wants us to live in fear, hence why he had one of his agents poison you. To destroy the hope you work so hard to spread." Milodi stilled and the Viper nodded. "He will pay for that."

"Alley… Killing Advent won't help anything." Milodi said sadly. "They are just as lost as we are." She made a face. "Even the Speaker is grasping at straws."

"Not for long." Alley replied coldly and everyone stared at her. "No one attacks my sister and gets away with it. No one."

"'Sister'?" Milodi said weakly, setting her now empty cup down on the table.

"I took a very special horde of children as my own." Alley said quietly. "The one who aided you, they consider her their mother. I know what she is and I know she is listening right this moment." She inclined her head to Milodi. "I have no intention of letting her fade any more than I would Jane." She smiled at Jane who looked a bit poleaxed. Alley shook her head. "We here are the ones who understand the past and the future. We know what can happen and what must not. Any of us alone is vulnerable. Together? We are stronger than any conceivable foe."

"All for one and one for all?" The Doctor quipped and paused as Alley smirked at him. "Oh no…" He groaned. "Don't!"

"I won't quote any bad movies at you this time, Doctor." Alley promised. Then she smirked wider. "_This_ time."

"I tremble with anticipation." Doctor Cooper said with a wince. Alley's sense of humor defined the word 'depraved' on occasion. "Alley…" He broke off and sighed. "What? Are we to be a council of some kind?" Jane stilled as Alley nodded.

"Alley, I am no diplomat." Jane protested.

"No." Alley agreed. "You will be in command of our military." Jane stared at her, shocked oozing from every pore and Alley nodded. "X-Com operated in secret for so long. Now it cannot any more. It does not have to. You will lead them. The Doctor and Milodi will provide logistical support and I will provide intel."

"I am not the X-Com Commander!" Jane said weakly.

"Jane…" Alley gave her hand a squeeze. "Your Commander is leaving."

"What?" Jane demanded, only to freeze as Milodi shot Alley a glare that the Viper ignored.

"Alley, don't!" Milodi warned.

"We have no time." Alley said sternly. "I do not want to break what illusions she has left, but she is not alone. Not now. Not _ever_." The look she turned to her partner held heartbreak. "So many lies. So much death and pain. Never again, Jane. _No one_ will hurt you again. Not while my nest lives." She slid out of her chair, releasing the other hand she held but suddenly coiled gently around Jane!

For her part, Jane was even more confused. "Alley! I do not understand!"

"I know." Alley was sad as she laid her head on Jane's shoulder. "But you are about to and it will hurt you very badly. I am here, Jane. You are _not_ alone." She looked at the Doctor and her eyes held bottomless pain. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. When she managed speech, it was a croak. "Doctor, I can't say it. I can't hurt her that bad. Help?"

"Alley, I do not understand either." Doctor Cooper admitted. He stilled as Milodi slid her chair closer to his and reached out to take his hand. "Priestess?"

"It is simple. Simple and _horrific_." The hybrid seemed close to tears now herself. "No one has asked a very important question. 'How did the X-Com commander survive in that stasis suit for so long?'"

"He was in stasis." Jane and Doctor Cooper chorused and eyed one another.

"For twenty years?" Milodi asked quietly. "The Elders' technology was incredible, but you of all people, Doctor, know the limits of their tech." The male human inhaled sharply as Milodi nodded. 'Yes."

"Oh my _god!_" The human almost fell out of his seat, but Milodi's grip tightened and he jerked to keep from pulling her. "Oh… My…" He broke off, shaking his head, his face a mix of awe and terror.

"Doctor?" Jane demanded tightly as Alley held her.

"Even stasis would not have kept him alive for so long as hooked up as he was to the Advent tactical network." Doctor Cooper focused himself and let his emotions fade as he worked to keep from upsetting her. "Nothing human could have survived that!"

"That is impossible! I know my Commander!" Jane swallowed hard as a new form appeared in the room, hovering next to one wall. Not the Lady! _This_ Ethereal was _blue!_ The he solidified into a familiar human form in a very familiar uniform. The X-Com Commander!

"You have hurt her enough!" Alley snapped. "Say what you will and then get lost!"

"I will." The Ethereal in human guise was quiet. "Jane Kelly, I am sorry."


	26. Chapter 26

**Energy**

"Say what you will and leave." Alley said with a growl as she hugged Jane gently. "You did _just_ as much evil as the Elders did. To people who _trusted_ you no less." Jane sagged in her grip and Alley moved to bolster her partner. "It is okay, Jane. It is okay."

"No." Jane said weakly as Alley held her. Her voice was odd. Almost childlike? "It is not."

"Yes, it is!" Alley reassured the distraught woman, hugging her tight. "Whatever he has or has not done, _your life_ is not a lie! You are Jane Kelly. Warrior. Ranger. Hero." She hissed at the Ethereal in human form as both Doctor Cooper and Milodi rose to move to Jane's side. "My partner."

"How… How long?" Jane managed as Alley crooned to her. Milodi laid a hand on Jane's shoulder and Doctor Cooper took her slack left hand in both of his. "How long have I served _an alien!_" She all but wailed the last.

"I came here almost a century ago to escape the ones who held another of my kind." The being she had followed loyally throughout the war with the Elders said quietly. "I did not understand what was happening, just that Mosaic was hunting me. I was young and like most young, inexperienced and afraid. I hid on this world and only realized what I truly was just before Shamash died." He nodded to Doctor Cooper who did not react. At all. Shamash had been the name of the Ethereal who had died and whose energy had coalesced into the Lady over many decades. "It was a hell of a shock." The hidden blue Ethereal shook his head. "I made many mistakes but humanity needed a defense and I needed somewhere to hide." He looked at the floor. "As well? I needed to atone for what I did to a brave, broken man. I had no idea what I was doing and William Carter paid for it with his sanity." Now, he shook his head. "It was needed, but that does not- cannot! -make it right." When he looked up, his face was forlorn. "I am sorry, Jane Kelly. Perhaps you will succeed where I failed."

"How many know?" Jane demanded, her anger trying to get past her horror and failing. Alley just held her.

"No one except the psis." The Commander said quietly. "Jenni guessed and confronted me just before the attack on the Elder's base. I explained what I could and she deferred judgment until after that. You know what happened there." Jane went totally still and he nodded. "She was incredibly powerful and could sense that I had power no one else knew about. Syndrome and the others? They guessed too, after." Alley stared at him, her crest expanding in her distress and he nodded to her. "Arisha knows."

"Are _you_ why Jenni died?" Jane was shuddering in Alley's grip and Alley worked to reassure her both physically and psionically.

"No." The Commander paused and then frowned. "And yes. I am the _reason_ the Elders came here in the first place. That said? I did not kill her and I wanted her to live! Jane Kelly, you have no reason to believe me, but I fought beside you _and_ her in that horrible place. I lost part of _myself_ when she fell, just as you did." Jane snarled at that and Alley hugged her tighter.

"Leave." Alley commanded. "Now."

"I have to say this." The human who wasn't one said firmly as Jane sputtered at him. "I did not kill your love, but I bear some responsibility for her death along with countless millions of others. The Elders knew I was on this planet and not just me." He eyed the Doctor who glared at him,, but did not speak. "Others of my kind hid here from them and other threats. I thought I could protect this world and them. I was wrong. Once I realized what I truly was, I gave of myself, hoping to spread the energy that I bear out, to help you and the others to fight when needed. I do not know how they tracked me. I do not know if I drew them somehow and I probably never will know. I _do_ know they were after me all along." He shivered. "They were quite clear about that when they interrogated me. When they tried to break my hold on this form and I refused. All I can offer is my apology, Jane Kelly. I lied to you and everyone. I was afraid, but that does not excuse what I did."

"Does Bradford know?" Jane demanded tightly.

"No." The alien in human guise said quietly. "He has guessed that I am not human, but he knows I fought, bled and all but died for the organization. I do not know what he will do when he finds out, but I am guessing it won't be pretty."

"Ya _think?_" Jane snarked and then subsided as Alley crooned to her again. "I… I cannot accept your apology. Maybe someday. But not today. I will _never_ forget what you did. You lied to us _all!_"

"Yes, I did." The X-Com commander said quietly. "It was needed, so I did it. So many things…" He mused and then shook his head. "You will not see me again, Jane Kelly. You wondered why I was grooming you for leadership. Now you know." He braced to attention and saluted her. "Be well, Commander."

Then he was gone!

"Wha-?" Jane stammered, undone by all of this. Alley just held her as she worked through her emotions. Then she got angry. "That… He…"

"The truth was going to come out sooner or later." Doctor Cooper interjected quietly. Jane stared at him in horror as he bowed his head. "I knew. My mother knew. Lying feels wrong, but in this case? He promised to kill anyone we told. Both of us believed him." Milodi looked stricken as Doctor Cooper heaved a sigh.

"Smart man." Alley gave Jane a squeeze. "You are not alone, Jane. Not now. Not _ever!_" She shook her head. "I expected him to explain, but this? To drop the job on you like _this?_ I knew he was pragmatic, but _that_ was _evil._"

"I am not the Commander." Jane all but begged.

"You are now." Alley just held her as Jane struggled to control her emotions. "Jane, it is okay. You are a good leader." She reassured the other. "You think before you act, but when you must, you act with speed and decisiveness. You are the epitome of an age old manta- 'Mission, men, me'. You think of the job, your people and only _then_ yourself. You _are_ a good leader, Jane and you will be a fine Commander."

"Alley…" Jane begged as she slowly reached up to return Alley's hug. "I… I can't do this! I am not the Commander!"

"You are now." Alley repeated. "I am betting he activated some kind of chain of command protocol before coming here and when you wake up, Bradford will drop it on you. He won't want to any more than I wanted to drop it on you, but he needs a Commander. After this? X-Com needs a leader now who is human, but understands other mindsets. You do. You listen when people have problems, but you do not take crap from anyone. You have my full support, Jane. My nest stands ready to serve you."

"What?" Jane's soft exclamation sounded into sudden, _utter_ silence.

"My nest are weapons, Jane." Alley said softly. "That is all we are. All we were made to be after Easer was killed. Everyone has tried everything we can think of, but we are what we are. Tools."

"You are _not_ a tool!" Jane all but threw those words out as she gripped Alley's head, making the Viper stare into her eyes. "Don't ever say that again! You are _not!_"

"Jane…" Alley did not fight her partner's grip. "We were made to serve. _Who_ we serve now is our choice, as it was not when we were created. I know my nestmates' feelings as well as I know my own. We will agree on this. We choose to serve _you_." She smiled a little grimly. "I am only going to say it once: Do not abuse our trust."

That was calm, cool and considered. Also a fairly blunt warning. Abusing the nest's limited trust would get loud. Also _very_ messy in all likelihood.

"I…" Jane dropped her hands and Alley caught them, holding them tight in her own. "I… Alley, I am not a good leader!"

"Yes, you are." Alley reassured the distraught woman. Then she sobered. "And now? You are not alone. You were not part of my family when we met, but now you are. In the end? We know our duty just as you do. We have work to do, Commander."

Jane stared at the Viper in shock as Alley released her, slid a bit away and all but braced to attention. Funny how a snake could do that and make it recognizable.

"If you salute me, I will hit you." Jane warned with a sound that was half sigh and half snarl. Alley just smirked at her and Jane sighed. "What 'work'?"

"Advent is in chaos at the moment and the time is ripe for a change." Alley said as Milodi sat back in her chair. The Doctor remained where he was, standing beside Jane. She gave him a tiny nod, about the best she could do as shocked as she was. He smiled back, but everyone focused on Alley. "Jian made a hell of an impression. From what I understand, she literally scared the shit out of the Speaker." Jane looked at her oddly and Alley's smirk grew even wider. "Her minions took him hostage and he was as arrogant with them as usual. That was a mistake. They scared him enough that they made him pee his pants." Jane's eyes widened and Alley smiled a bit sadly. "She cannot interfere so blatantly again without causing far more problems, but it does leave us an opening."

"An opening to do what?" Jane was not sure about this at all

"To end the war."

* * *

Advent City Center Ulep 8, former region of Malaysia as defined before the Elders

"This is insane!" Jane Kelly said softly as she checked her gear. A glance around the troop bay of the Hammerhead submersible assault craft showed everyone was checking their weapons and equipment. "How many times have I said that?"

"Sixteen." Arisha said from her seat next to Jane. Jane stared at her and then at her partner who shrugged. Jesse wasn't happy any more than anyone else was.

"That was a rhetorical question, Arisha." Jesse said with a shrug as Arisha jerked to look at him. "She didn't really want an answer."

"I am sorry." Arisha said quickly, but Jane shook her head.

"It is all right, Arisha." Jane made a face as Arisha bobbed her head. "I am stressed."

"You have a right to it." Arisha reassured her. "I will try to remember when not to answer."

The face she made spoke volumes about that. She was the youngest of the nest and had never dealt with many people outside of it even now. While she and Jesse were both learning things as fast as they could, neither was anything that anyone with brains would call 'educated'. They hadn't had _time _before their abrupt release from slavery and now? Both were feeling their way into a much larger world. Their nest helped. Alley in particular helped, but it would take time.

"My own… discomfiture aside, this is _madness_, Alley." Jane said with a glower at her partner who sat on the other side of her, face as serene as a six foot long snake woman's could get. "They won't accept it."

"Oh yes, they _will_." Alley replied as a growl came from the other side of the troop bay and the two Mutons who sat there. "We are not going to give them, _him_, any slack at _all_. If he tries anything, I will melt _him_ into a puddle of goo along with his Avatar." Both Mutons nodded to her and when Jane stared at them, they nodded to _her_.

"Ooookay…" Jane sounded more than a bit punch drunk by all this, but Alley just smiled at her.

"Jane, you don't have to do anything at all. Just stand there and look menacing." Alley smirked wide as Jane groaned louder. "This has to be _my_ show. You are here to show support."

"And you won't tell me what you have to do." Jane said very softly. "Because I won't like it, will I?"

"No one can know what happens here but me." Alley said heavily. "That is the way it must remain. The Speaker will be removed. His evil ends today. I will do what I can, Jane and I promise you that I will survive this. I will…" She broke off with a gulp. "I will need help." She said weakly.

"That bad?" Jane asked, reaching for Alley's hand.

"Yes." Alley let Jane squeeze her hand and then retracted her hand. "Jane? Can you let me handle this?"

"I… I don't know, Alley." Jane admitted. "These feelings, I haven't had them for so long and now? I am drowning in them." She slumped a bit. "I don't know, Alley."

"Do you trust me, Jane?" Alley was gentle, so gentle as she took Jane's hand again. Jane nodded and then gasped as a hiss of something surrounded her. Then she smiled. Before she could speak, Alley did. "It won't last." The snake woman warned. "But you have suffered enough. This will stress both of us."

"A soporific?" Jane inquired, her face easing from its tension.

"Yes." Alley smiled at her partner but then focused as the craft's engines changed pitch. "Arisha, Jesse! Stay with Jane. She won't be able to fight like this." She turned to the Mutons. "Protect them."

That was a command and both nodded. The silence was broken as Jane giggled!

"And here, I thought _I_ was in command." Jane snickered as everyone stared at her and then at Alley who made a face as everyone looked the same question at her.

"My partner is too tough for her own good sometimes. Anything less wouldn't have affected her at all. It won't last long, but until then? The side effects will be a bit strange. Jane, later." She pleaded as Jane started to reach for Alley, her expression turning lecherous.

"Please?" Jane asked. "Feel good. Been so long…" She sounded so lost and alone that Arisha slid out of her seat, moved to Jane and coiled around her. Jane recoiled, but Jesse just smiled a little wanly. "No." Jane begged as Arisha held her. "You are not Alley!"

"It is all right." Arisha crooned and then started to sing something very softly. What was that? It wasn't lullaby that was for sure. Jane's eyes went huge and then her smile turned decidedly wicked as Arisha's smile got huge.

"Okay." Jane's tone changed. More awake, but was that a good thing? It now held _lust_. "Later. Bring more of that stuff." She grinned as Alley moaned.

"What have I done? I have created a monster." Alley intoned as the ship shuddered a bit and everyone tensed as the pilot turned to them. Cable was tense and who could blame him? "You know what to do."

"Alley, she is right, this is insane!" Cable snapped as his partner slithered out of her seat to hold herself erect beside him. "I can-"

"You will go utterly mad if you see what is in that lab first hand, Cable." Alley interrupted him. "_I_ am the only one who can go. I have to do it. I will. We will argue, but _after_ I get this done. Stay. Here."

She slid towards the hatch at the end of the bay and no one followed her. Good. That didn't preclude them doing dumb things, but her nest obeyed orders. Jane was disabled and the Mutons had been ordered to obey her. They would not cross Oshina. She had time. A bit. The hatch opened and she was through. As expected, a full dozen Advent hybrid soldiers had weapons aimed at the ship. Alley tensed, but a familiar form strode into view. The Sectoid Adept was almost as happy as Jane had been.

_She is correct._ The Sectoid's not-quire-female mind voice held scorn, fear and awe. _You _**are**_ insane._

"Crazy is as crazy does." Alley quipped as she slithered forward. None of the troops moved but none fired either. "No one follows me, clear?"

_We can guarantee that, but we cannot see in there._ The Sectoid warned as Alley started for a bunker hatch nearby. Again, none of the troops as much as flinched. Could they? A close look showed each was surrounded by purple psi power! The Sectoids had kept their end of the deal! Frozen the whole base! _The Elders made sure of that._

"I know." Alley reassured the other. "You have my word as Matron that no matter what happens after today, you and your people will not be excluded from being able to choose your own fates."

_Part of me wishes you had taken control. Part of me is glad. _The Sectoid paused as the door to the bunker hissed open, showing a small room. No, an elevator. _Matron… _She begged.

"You will all be able to see what happens through me, but second hand, it won't be nearly as bad." Alley reassured the other. "I give you my word, I will save what I can. When I shatter the controls, you will have the choice you were all denied."

_We have talked with the Lady and after long discussions with her and others, we have chosen to offer the Priestesses our support. _The Sectoid said heavily. _All I can say is 'Good Luck'._

"_I _am not the one who will need luck." Alley entered the elevator and the door slid shut. It started down, far too loud and clunky to be Elder manufacture, although the security systems that came alive _were_. Then it was moving far too fast for anything built by humans.

The door opened to horror and a familiar, hated, voice.

"It plays out." The Elders' Speaker rose from the lab table where he had been working on something as Alley started forward, only to freeze as a security field snapped into existence around her. Whatever it was, it wasn't Elder tech. Indeed, its feel was human! "None of that, my dear. We have much to discuss."

Instead of answering, Alley looked around. Dozens of tanks held human forms, some in a state of decomposition. Machinery of both human and Elder design was scattered about. An Avatar lay on a table nearby, its form dulled by lack of psionic power, but that paled beside the boy in the bed beside it, connected to the Avatar by several tubes. Alley did not react as he twisted in the bed. His dirty dark hair fell from obscuring his face and she had confirmation. She didn't need to see the faces of the dying forms in the tubes to know what they were. All would be the same.

The boy had _Jian's _face!


	27. Chapter 27

**Landing**

Alley did not speak. She did not move. She simply looked at the form in the bed, scrutinizing it hard with both sight and other senses. The Speaker shook his head as he looked at her.

"There is no need for us to be rude to one another, my dear." The almost human looking form said quietly. "We are the same thing." Again, Alley ignored him as the Viper's gaze swept to the Avatar. "You were made by the Elders just as I was. You owe them." He froze as Alley's gaze turned to him and the sheer disgust in her eyes had him flinching. "Alley…" He stopped and froze solid as something went 'hiss' nearby and a green gas started seeping up from the floor around him. "What?"

"Your screen blocks psionic abilities and physical access." Alley said mildly as she slowly coiled herself. "It does not block my power."

"Of course not." The Speaker looked confused as he took off his black sunglasses and his reptilian eyes scoured the Viper. "I need you to repair the Avatar. Alley, we are the same!"

"We are _nothing_ alike." Alley snapped, stepping hard on her temper. "And if you say my name again, I will detonate the fuel air explosive that I just created around your legs. The blast won't pass the barrier you have put between us so it won't hurt me. It likely won't kill you, but it will _hurt_ you." The Speaker had only seemed frozen before, now he was so still it looked painful. "You will call me Matron. Only my friends may call me by name and you are _not_ my friend, _politician_." Oh, the sheer disgust! "Assuming that I am stupid enough to trust anything you say will get you hurt. If you do? I will enjoy every moment of your agony. I am not supposed to harm with my power, but no one will mind in _this_ case."

It was hard to say what was worse. The threat of small scale explosion or the way she delivered it. She had been hanging around Jane Kelly for a while and both had learned from each other. Jane would be mortified that she had taught Alley how to threaten people better while Alley had taught her how to love again.

"None of what I said was a lie. I did not mean to give offense." The Speaker did not move, indeed, his eyes never left Alley's. "I never meant you harm,…" He paused and then spoke carefully. "...Matron?" He made the honorific a question.

"Don't tell me you do not know what I have been up to." Alley snapped, her ire still fully fanned. "All of the messes I have been forced to clean up. Yours are just another set to add to the list."

"I am sure it is a long list." The Speaker sank back in his seat. "I know some, not all." He slowly shook his head as he looked at the mist around his legs. Then he turned to the Avatar and his face fell. "Matron, you can repair this."

"Probably." Alley retorted. "But I won't." At that, the Speaker went totally still and Alley pressed her advantage. "After what the Elders did to me and those I love, there is zero chance of me doing anything to help them."

"They are not coming back." The Speaker said very quietly and Alley paused. "The Avatar is not for them, Matron. It is for you."

"And now, you think to bribe me?" Alley's scorn could have cut steel.

"No." The Speaker said quietly, unmoved by Alley's rage. "It is not a bribe, Matron. It is a gift. I have nothing to gain. You must not save me."

"What?" Alley demanded. For the first time since arriving in this hellhole, she was unsure.

"Matron, I was made the same way you were." The Speaker said quietly. "The Elders created me, made me as a spokesman for Advent. Someone less frightening than any of their soldiers. They made me from beings who no longer exist. I am the last of my kind. You and your nest know about dirty jobs but this one was worse in some ways. I had to be pleasant to those who hated me and wished me dead. You could shoot people or just withdraw. I could not. I was the public face. I know I was assassinated at least twice and this form was remade, but the Elders didn't let me remember that. I was confused after the second time and I did discrete data searches. I discovered things that made my own memories suspect." He made a face. "Another time I am reasonably sure I shot myself."

"Do not expect sympathy from me!" Alley snarled. "_You_ didn't have a horrible bioweapon implanted in one you love!"

"No." The Speaker agreed. "But _you_ did not have to deal with humans outside your nest in any way except on the job. Advent followed orders." He paused and frowned. "Mostly." Alley opened her mouth, but he held up empty hands. "Matron… I am not talking about your nest. What happened to them, to you, was a travesty! The Elders didn't know the truth about it until after you went into stasis! They were rather upset with the Warlock." His tone spoke volumes in that one quiet sentence.

"Why?" Alley all but spat that at him. "The Elders wanted weapons! They got them!"

"Weapons are not the answer." The Speaker was not angry. If anything? Now he was sad. "Power in and of itself is meaningless if you have no reason to use it. Why have it if not to use it? Then there are the consequences of using said power. You and I both know that the Elders did not wish humanity destroyed."

"It would have destroyed their cure." Alley was little calmer. Not much. Not many outside of X-Com knew what the Elders had done to humans to make their Avatars. Alley devoutly hoped that the information would not spread any further. Even now, the sheer horror turned her stomach. Especially here, where the Speaker was doing something similar.

"That is one reason." The Speaker agreed. "We can argue causes and effects, ethics and morality all day and likely not agree on anything. We have diametrically opposed points of view."

"And the fact you wanted to see if you could _breed_ my ability was insignificant?" At Alley's cold words, the Speaker went totally still. "Or did you think we utterly ignored all of the reasoning behind your asinine attempts to kidnap me?"

The nest had been incensed by that. The teams that had been sent had been returned to the Speaker in pieces. All except whatever passed for their genitalia. Angering her nestmates was a _bad_ idea.

"No." The other non-human sighed as if in true regret. "I did want you, Matron. I wanted you as a mate, but you have another path ahead of you. I wish things could be different." For just a moment, heartbreaking loneliness sounded in his voice, but Alley was unmoved. "But we deal with what is, not what we wish." He gave himself a shake and wisely changed topics. "Advent found little in the ruins of the base. Is the Warlock gone?"

"I don't know." Alley admitted. "He crossed boundaries that even the Elders were wary of. I have set telltales and traps. If he does come back, it won't be a surprise." The Speaker nodded and Alley's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because as you say, he crossed boundaries that the Elders were wary of." The Speaker said mildly. "I know little about that except they had plans for such an occurrence." He nodded to the incomplete Avatar. "That is one of them."

"Really?" Alley inquired, her tone derisive. "They planned for me?"

"No." The Speaker allowed. "They planned for _someone_ who could stop that monster. They couldn't." Alley stared at him and he bowed his head. "They made him and they controlled him to a certain extent, but he went too far. He did things that even they found repugnant and when they tried to stop him, they found he had copied himself, a direct violation of their wishes. One of many. Your nest was only one of many groups he tormented." He shook his head. "Can you help the children, Matron?"

"What do you know about them?" Before, Alley's anger had been hot. Now? It was cold. Worse in many ways.

"Enough to be ashamed." The Speaker said quietly. "The Elders decreed that pilots be made to counter any space borne threat, but they let _him_ decide how. That was a mistake."

"And?" Alley's voice might have frozen an ocean.

"And they could not fix it." The Speaker said sadly. "It wasn't psionic, it was deeper, even deeper than the genetic level. On the molecular level." At that, Alley tensed and he nodded. "The only one of the Elders' servants who could do such safely was Easer and before they could get her to do so? She died. No one else, not even the Elders, showed the power you have. That makes you both highly desirable and incredibly dangerous as you well know." His smile was thin. "Matron, as hard as it may be to believe, I am not your enemy. I never was. I feared the Warlock's avarice and power. None of Advent's remaining forces had any chance against him. I hoped to persuade you or coerce you to act against him. Your defeating him shows me just how badly I erred."

"I had help." Alley retorted, not budging.

"Of course you did." The Speaker's smile was warmer now, but he was slumping a bit. "You will need all of your strength, wisdom and cunning for what lies ahead of you, Matron. I am sorry I insulted you, that I denigrated your ability and compassion. My only excuse is that like your nest, I find it impossible to trust."

"What do you want?" Alley snapped, anger rising again. "Flattering me won't help."

"What I want is for you to survive." The Speaker said quietly. "You are what this world needs. 'Matron'. Not 'Queen' or 'Empress' or Tsarina' or whatever. Not a sole leader believing in some divine right to rule but a protector, a nurturer, a guide. The Elders knew better than to try to rule anything alone. They were powerful, no question and many revered them as gods, but you of all people know just how badly they messed some things up."

"It will take centuries at the very least to fix any of this!" Alley half sighed, half growled. "I won't live more than another ten Earth years and I cannot become an Avatar. Not that I _would_."

"The Lady will help if she remains here." The Speaker offered. "Asaru may or may not." He paused as Alley tensed. "I knew. The Elders told me when X-Com stole their Commander back. The sensors that the Elders had to track him were general only, never specific enough to show a position, but they did know he was here on the planet. Now? He isn't." He shook his head. "His motives may be purer than the Elders', they may not. Do not trust him."

"Was that a joke?" Alley demanded tightly. "I trust him almost as far as I trust _you._"

"Good." The Speaker smiled as Alley goggled at him. "I will not live much longer, Matron. Just like you Vipers, my own species had a time. I am past it and my body is failing The means of repairing or replacing such are beyond us." He slumped further. "It is about time and that is not a joke."

"I can fix it." Alley wanted to claw the words back into her mouth as soon as she spoke, but the Speaker jerked.

"_NO!_" The Speaker begged. _Begged!_ "I do not want stay _alone!_ Please, Matron! I know I have wronged you, but please! Do not curse me to live alone! Without the Elders', I am nothing. Nothing at all. Advent is gone and I am useless. My last directive from the Elders had been fulfilled. This facility as well as the wonder and horror it contains are now the property and responsibility of the one who beat the Warlock. You."

"Advent still exists." Alley said softly as the field in front of her vanished. She did not move.

"Many still seek the comfort of regularity. The illusion of security, of safety." The Speaker was leaning over his table now, his head falling to it. "Please, Matron! I beg of you! Don't bring me back!" He was gasping now and while every instinct in Alley said to go to his aid, she did not move. This could still be a trick. "I… I deserve your hate, your scorn. I served loyally as well as I could. I failed." He collapsed onto the workbench. "Elders forgive me, I failed."

"Not yet." Alley said quietly as her power eased around the room, scanning, searching for traps and finding none. The machinery accepted her touch and came to life, all of the monitors showing an odd symbol, a curve with an arrow head on one end. It was almost a smile from one angle. Familiar, but from where? She would ponder that later. Ever single medical machine she accessed said the Speaker was moments from death. "The Elders' ends might have been just to them, but even _they_ had see that their means were brutal, evil."

The Speaker nodded just a little, clearly incapable of speech.

"I came down here to kill you and burn this place to ash." Alley said quietly. "This is not what I expected and I know that the others observing through me are just as shocked." She touched the Speaker with her power and his head raised, horror in his reptilian eyes. "Answer my questions and then I will let you sleep. How many pods?"

"Hundreds." The Speaker managed to croak. "We… The Elders didn't do this… Advent... _We_ didn't do this! Let me go! Please!" He pleaded as Alley's power held him at the brink of death.

"Who did?" Alley asked as she finally moved to slither up to the bed.

"I don't think anyone did! This place was built by a consortium of humans as a failsafe in case of natural disaster or such. They didn't know what they were doing!" The Speaker begged through his gasps. "They thought to preserve a select few of humanity in stasis, but then… Something happened that is not documented. The systems failed. Almost all of the occupants in the pods are dead and _it wasn't us! _We found this place like this! There are no records. I was using the remnants to try and fix the Avatar! That is the only living subject I used."

"I see." Alley felt no untruth from the dying alien and she sighed as she reached out to touch the breathing boy in the bed. "How is he is alive?"

"I don't know. None of our scientists found a cause of death. Only his genotype survived whatever happened." The Speaker croaked. "All the others… They were dead when the Elders searched this place. Advent didn't do this, Matron. Maybe you can help them?"

"Maybe. But what I truly wish to fix, I can't." Alley said as she retreated a bit from the bed and the Speaker stared at her. "The Avatar is infected too." She bowed her head. "The boy is dead, he just doesn't know it yet."

"That is… 'Infected'?" The Speaker paused and then slumped. "Oh no. No."

"I can sense it, but not cure it. Not without far more knowledge about what it is. I can cleanse myself, but nothing else." Alley said sadly. "Everyone in this place is infected. How many have you touched outside of here?"

"I have only been here since those crazy people in white attacked me." The Speaker said weakly. "I… I never came before that. I never had reason! We can heal it!"

"Advent tech? Maybe in time." Alley said sadly. "But not in time for him. Not even my ability can save this one. He is too far gone. His brain is damaged beyond my ability to heal. Only the medical tech here is keeping him from showing symptoms, but even it cannot hold such at bay forever. Not even stasis can." She reached down to stroke the slumbering boy's short hair. "I do not know this disease, but it is a natural one. Nothing feels artificial. She warned me I would be pushed by this and she was right. I want to save him and I can't." A tear fell as she brushed the sleeping, doomed, boy's hair. "His end will not be pleasant. I pray he doesn't wake."

"I… I am sorry, Matron." The Speaker sounded sincere. "He was infected when the machinery took him out of stasis?" He begged.

"Almost certainly. Someone didn't sterilize things or missed a step and these all paid for that error." Alley slumped, her anger fading and only sorrow remaining. "I am betting the whole facility is exposed to whatever he is dying from. How many other pods hold people who are alive?"

"Twenty seven." The Speaker replied, his own voice sorrowful. "Most young adults, none over the age of twenty for the few records we found. All the same ethnic type. I… We didn't do this, Matron."

"I believe you." Alley said with a sigh. "And… I accept this burden. This responsibility. I am a tender of children now, the whole _and_ the broken, the well _and _the sick." She looked at the Speaker who opened his mouth, but then he gasped and laid his head down. "Go in peace, Speaker. We were never friends, but I refuse to torture any simply to do it. Rest well."

"You are so much better than me. Thank… you…" His words petered out with his breath, His body heaved once and then failed.

Alley stared at the dead Speaker for a long moment and then at the Avatar. She slid to one wall where a keyboard sat under a monitor and started typing commands. Pods swept down from the ceiling to scoop up both the boy and the Avatar. After several minutes, she slid into the elevator to a whooshing sound. The facility would sterilize itself. Not in time for that poor doomed child, but maybe she would be able to return, to find out what had happened, to fix some of this, _any_ of this. At least now, she knew where Jian's DNA had come from. As the elevator rose, she began to shed her skin. It was disgusting, but necessary. The disease would likely only be on her outer scales, but she would check herself thoroughly afterwards.

_Matron!_ The Sectoid's terrified mental voice had Alley freezing as several Advent troops aimed at the elevator.

"You saw. The war is over." Alley said as she slid just a little out of the elevator. "I need proper decontamination. I don't know what that disease is, but whatever it is, it is lethal. I am protected, you are not! Stay back!"

_Do as she says. Lower your weapons and prepare a decontamination team._ The Sectoid commanded and all the troops obeyed. _I… My kind saw through you. What _**was**_ that? _There was no way she was faking the horror she was projecting. Not a chance. _That place?_

"A lifeboat that failed."


	28. Chapter 28

**Formations**

"Alley, you have to stop scaring us."

A very familiar voice pulled Alley out of her doze. Arisha was beside herself as she sat coiled up beside Alley's bed. She was terrified, that was abundantly clear. Then again, Alley lay on a treatment bed in an Advent medical facility surrounded by Advent techs and guards, all of whom looked uncertain as Alley looked at Arisha. The nest had all kinds of reasons to dislike Advent. Arisha's nest were all dead because of Advent. She wasn't a violent sort, thank goodness, but she _was_ incredibly dangerous. Then again, the entirety of Alley's nest, which did include Arisha and her partner now, had routinely done jobs when they served Advent that _defined_ the word 'dangerous' so they had been trained to sneak and fight by the best. Small wonder people were scared of them.

"Tell me the others are not doing anything dumb, Arisha." Alley managed past the tube down her nose. Whatever that disease was, it had been almost as infectious as the viscous bioweapon that the Warlock had implanted in her human nestmates. Only her molting had prevented her from being exposed any further, but some of it had gotten in. Probably when she had touched the poor doomed kid. With her molecular control power, she had managed to keep it from killing her, but just barely. Then she had collapsed. Her powers had been dulled by the disease attacking her brain. Advent had freaked and after being washed, she had been decontaminated on many levels both inside and out. The molted skin the troops had simply incinerated with a flamethrower. But that had left her wilting and Advent had not been amused. What they had done had been extreme, but needed in this case. The procedures had been extremely disgusting and she hurt in so many places, but her nest and others had been on guard. No one was going to hurt her or worse, try to _clone_ her. Not now.

"It is tempting." Arisha said weakly as she clasped and unclasped her hands. She clearly wanted to touch Alley, but couldn't through the plastic screen that surrounded Alley's bed. "I… The Sectoids showed us what they saw and… I…" She was all but crying.

"I know. It was horrible." Alley focused her mind on a sweep of her body and smiled a little. "I cannot sense any more of the disease in me. Tell me they didn't keep samples!"

That was to everyone and both guards at the door and the two med-techs in the room stiffened with Arisha. The male med-tech spoke up carefully. The female kept working on whatever she was working on.

"The docs wanted to, but your um… your companions prevailed on them not to." The man was clearly not happy, but he was also a professional.

"Tell me Jane didn't make anyone wet themselves?" Alley all but begged and then man looked at the floor. "Ah, geez! That woman." She coughed and everyone stilled. "I am all right!" She snapped as the med-techs started another scan. "Just phlem, nothing more."

"With all due respect, if _anyone_ else had gone in there, Matron, they would be dead _and_ incredibly infectious by now." The med-tech said slowly. "How did you know?"

"I didn't." Alley admitted and everyone stared at her. "What little information I had said that whatever was down there was bad, but I had no idea any more than anyone else did. I went to kill the Speaker and destroy his Avatar, but that…" She sighed. "I didn't expect that. I did expect tricks of some kind, but that? That wasn't an bioweapon."

"No." The med-tech agreed. "What few scans we have show a totally natural virus similar to what causes human measles but far worse. This caused swelling in the brain. You were totally right in sterilizing the place and calling for decontamination. Anything with human DNA would be threatened, which is most of Advent."

"I didn't sense much about it." Alley begged. "Was it airborne?"

"No." The med-tech relaxed when Alley did. "Thank goodness! Even Advent tech has limits and _this_ would push them even if it isn't airborne transmission. We can cure almost anything we can scan, but this…" He broke off as Alley sighed in agreement.

"Any scans you try to do will put anyone _doing_ said scans in mortal peril. Hazmat gear has many potential failure points and all it takes is one. Advent tech isn't perfect now any more than it was before." Alley finished for him. "If this gets loose into the public, we are screwed. Whatever that was, it affects the brain and does it fast. None of the equipment registered the damage to that poor boy, so it is subtle. I think the disease is what killed the Speaker." She and Arisha did not react as the others in the room showed grief. "I may be the only one who can go down there."

"Alley! No!" Arisha actually _snarled_ that. "If you try, I will have one of Oshina's people sit on you." Not a threat, a promise.

"I am the only one who _can!_" Alley tried to sit up, but her head spun and she sank back with a groan.

"With all due respect, Matron, just a brief exposure nearly killed you even with all of your advantages." The med-tech said as stepped slowly towards the bed, freezing as Arisha's crest flared just a little. Her hand was at her side, where Alley knew darn well she had a small pistol concealed. "Operative Arisha, I mean you and her no harm. She is weak and sick. She is not infected, thank goodness, but she _is_ sick."

"I am all right." Alley tried to snarl that, but her head spun again.

"No, you are not." The med-tech corrected her. "Anyone but you would still be unconscious, Matron." He moved slowly and carefully to Alley's bedside as the Viper sputtered. He flipped a screen so Alley could see it and she stilled. It showed her body with various parts of her highlighted in red. Her lungs in particular pulsed a deep red. She hurt, but she had no idea it had been that bad.

"What?" Alley asked, stunned.

"They had to scour the insides of your lungs, Alley." Arisha said sadly, not moving. "The virus or whatever it was got into them and… No one was sure if it was airborne or not and you were fading. Don't make me watch you _die_, Alley! _Don't!_"

The sheer pain in Arisha's voice shook Alley and both med-techs stared at her. Aside from Jesse, every single other member of her first nest died. Even not _seeing_ it happen for the most part, it had scarred her deeply, losing so many she cared about. She got on with her life, tried to be funny and kind, but it hurt her and would for the rest of her life. Alley understood. Did she ever! Bur someone else beat her to speech.

"Operative Arisha." The female med-tech said softly as Arisha fought her emotions. "It is all right. We know you do not trust us and we know why." Shame sounded in her tone but her face was professionally blank. "The Matron is alive, hold to that."

"I…" Arisha slumped a bit and then nodded, her crest shrinking back to its normal size. "I try." She gave the med techs a wan smile. "Sorry."

"Operative, after what you all went through, it is a marvel that any of your nest are as sane as you are." The male med tech

"Sanity is for the weak." Arisha said that in an odd, waspy voice and Alley bit back a laugh that brought pain to her chest.

"Do not start the 40K references, Arisha." Alley's soft words were a command and Arisha stiffened. "No one here will get them." She paused as one of the hybrid troopers by the door smiled at her! "What?"

"For the Greater Good!" The female hybrid said with a wide smile under her helmet as everyone but Alley and Arisha stared at her, confused. Alley and Arisha shared a look.

"It says something about the world we live in that I am actually _not_ surprised to find a Tau player in Advent ranks." Alley said with a smile of her own as all of the other Advent looked completely lost. "When do you have time to do that?" She inquired.

"I don't play." The female hybrid clarified. "I just found a bunch of the miniatures and was curious. I paint them to look like the boxes show and it relaxes me. I found some stories and liked them." She made a face under her helmet. "Most of them."

"Some of the stories are good. Others? Not so good. As for relaxing? Yes, it can." Alley agreed. "Many of us paint. It helps. One of ours found an entire store's worth of 40K miniatures in a ruin one time and we all had a ball putting them together and painting them. It took us a while, but we found some rules for them and play every so often. Personally? I play White Scars Space Marines."

"You and your bikes." Arisha complained.

"Better than _you_ and your Slaanesh Chaos Cultists. That is _so_ not safe for work!" Alley countered. "Mark-" She broke off as everyone stilled. Mark was her partner who had died. Why didn't it hurt so much now? She had no idea but she continued as if the interruption was planned. "Mark loved to convert things. He made some very cool conversions for his Cadian Imperial Guard army."

"Yes, he did. I saw pictures." Arisha said quietly, her face worried as Alley sank back in her bed. "What happened to that? No one has said."

"No one deemed games 'essential'." Alley said sadly. "When our people went back to our original quarters for our stuff, they didn't have a lot of space to carry extras. After we cleaned out our apartments, Advent repurposed that entire block. I bet our games got trashed."

"You would lose that bet." The male med tech said firmly enough that both Vipers stare at him. "No one knows why, but the rest of your nest's material belongings that you did not take got put into storage. Anything you left behind was saved."

"Why?" Alley demanded as Arisha stared from her to the med-tech.

"Because we, Advent, wronged you." The med-tech said mildly. "It was not by our will, or even the Elders' will from what I understand." Alley nodded slightly, manifestly against her will. Why was she so tense now? That didn't make sense now. No one was going to attack here here. "That said? You have absolutely no reason to trust any of us. We can never undo what was done, we can only do what we can now. We have done evil."

"So have we." Alley said quietly. But something was wrong. Arisha picked up her tension and tensed as well, both the guards and both the med techs following suit moments later.

"Matron?" The male med tech said carefully. "Are you well?" Alley stared at him and then focused her mind deep into her own body. What she found did not surprise her.

"if you touch her, you are dead." Alley said very softly as she eased herself a bit in the bed. "Whatever you have planned for me doesn't matter. You will let her go. Now. Otherwise, you and every Advent in this building are dead." Arisha stilled as Alley's tone turned ice cold. "If I don't kill you, Jane will."

"Alley…" Arisha asked very carefully as she slithered just a little away for the Matron's bed. She didn't draw a weapon, but she did put her back to the wall for all the good that would do as both soldiers raised their rail rifles.

"No!" The male med tech screamed as Alley drew in breath to gather her spit. "Matron! It isn't what you think!"

_I _**think**_ you put a control chip in my head._ Alley's ice cold mental projection hit everyone at the same time. _Arisha! Run! Get Jane clear! _Arisha shook her head slowly and Alley snarled at her._ Do not argue with me!_

"You are not making sense, Alley." Arisha complained. "They didn't! I was watching the whole time!" Alley looked at Arisha and the younger Viper recoiled at the betrayal in Alley's eyes. "Alley! They didn't!"

_They didn't._ That wasn't an Advent voice, or a Viper or-

The world turned blue and everyone froze in blue tinted energy, but only for a moment. Everyone jerked as the door slammed open and two furious female human forms charged in. Jane Kelly held her sword ready, but that paled beside the small, blue skinned girl who stood beside the furious ranger, hands limed with purple psionic fire. Lizbeth was pissed.

"_Leave my mom alone, you piece of shit!_" Somehow, Lizbeth was between the bed and Arisha who stared at the girl, dumbfounded as Lizbeth threw her hands out as if grasping something. Then Arisha screamed as blue energy seared her from the inside out. "Let my aunt go, Asaru or I _will_ kill you!"

_You._ The voice of the former X-Com commander was shocked as his blue ethereal form appeared beside Arisha who crumpled to the floor. _Traitor!_

"You are one to talk!" Jane Kelly snarled as she advanced to the Ethereal who retreated a bit. "How many of us died because of your lies? Advent, X-Com? Human, alien? It doesn't matter. All dupes! HOW MANY?" She screamed as blue energy lashed at her but then Lizbeth did something and Jane shrugged off the attack. "You will _not_ take Alley!"

_I am trying to _**help**_ her, you silly human!_ The Ethereal snapped, but then _he_ screamed as Lizbeth hit him with something that flashed with dire psionic energy. _Stop that!_

"You are leaving and you will not come back!" Lizbeth snapped. "Enough is enough." Blue power threw her across the room and held her up off the ground as she fought fruitlessly to get free of tendrils that were suddenly everywhere. They couldn't seem to hurt her, but she couldn't seem to break free.

_I__ndeed._ _Enough is enough._ The cold Ethereal said with a growl as Alley tried to sit up and couldn't. _Did you really think I had no safeguards for your inevitable betrayal? _He paused as Alley heard something odd. Someone was chuckling as if darkly amused. No one Alley knew. That wasn't psionic, or aloud. it was... different. The Ethereal's rage as a cold, hard thing, unlike Jane's red hot anger as she swiped at the energy tendrils that surrounded Lizbeth. _Calm down, Colonel! I am not hurting your paramour._

"No?" Jane snapped. "Betrayal never hurts as long as it is _you_ doing it? Just like you betrayed every single human who ever worked with you or for you. You will be betray us. It is what you _do_."

_I __have protected humanity for almost a century. You have no right to lecture me._ The Ethereal sneered.

"No?" Jane snorted and_ sheathed her sword. _"Funny how you ignore everything that isn't pertinent to your plots and plans. 'None so blind as those who see'." Everyone was staring at her as she moved slowly to Alley's bedside and laid her hand on Alley's limp one. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with that god-awful place that nearly killed Alley."

_That was never the plan._ The Ethereal said slowly. Jane ignored him to focus on Alley. _Jane Kelly, Death was never the plan. They were the best and brightest young minds of that generation. None psionic, so less than worthless to the Elders. They would have all died __in the invasion!__ You know this! __I erred! In our haste to make it, it was contaminated and I hoped that Alley could cleanse the place. I was wrong. I am not perfect. You know this._

"What I _know_ is that you are my enemy." Jane patted Alley's hand and then turned to face the Ethereal. "Let Lizbeth go, let Alley and Arisha go and then _get lost_. If I see you or feel your presence again, I will summon Jian and _she_ will do what she does." Alley tried to tense at that, but she couldn't. She was limp, every voluntary muscle in her body under the control of another. "You broke the rules. You will pay for that."

_I __did not break the rules._ The Ethereal was just as arrogant as any of the Elders had been. _Lizbeth did._

"I did." Lizbeth said from where she hung, still struggling. "I will pay for that throughout eternity but you? You are damned. You will pay for what you were trying to do here. For what you goaded the Warlock to make me do." A tear fell, followed by another. "I am sorry, Mom. I had to know."

At that, Alley went totally still. Horror blossomed as Lizbeth nodded to her. The Viper banished her spit and took as deep a breath as she could even though it hurt. "Lizbeth?"

"I know what I did, Mom. I know how many I did it to." Lizbeth said sadly. "I know _why_ I did it. Why the Warlock did such a foolish thing as to challenge the _Elders_ of all people. He was pushed into it." Alley inhaled in horror and tried to move, to do anything, but Jane's hand clenched on hers.

"_Jane…_" Alley hissed, but Jane did not release her.

"She has to do it or she will never be free." Jane said quietly. "I still don't trust her, but only a fool doubts her love for you."

"No…" Alley begged as Lizbeth as suddenly glowing bright purple and that pushed the blue away. "Lizbeth! I can help you!"

"You did." Lizbeth smiled as Alley as the tendrils around her vanished. "But this? This _I_ have to do." She took a step towards the Ethereal who was suddenly transparent. "Fell free to flee, Asaru. We will find you wherever you go."

"'We'?" Alley inquired, cursing her own weakness.

"I don't trust myself, Mom." Lizbeth was suddenly a little girl again, unsure. "I can't after all the evil I did. You did your best and it was very good. Everyone says so, but I cannot trust myself any more than Jane Kelly can trust me. That said? There _is_ one who _I_ can trust." Her smile at the Ethereal might put out the Sun. "Care to guess who _I _called for help from when I saw you put a control chip in my mom?"

_You didn't!_ Was the Ethereal suddenly afraid? The two medics were poised to flee and the two soldiers clearly did not know who to aim at.

"No one move! We need to keep this contained." Jane commanded as a silver flash lit the room and a female form rose from her sitting posture. _Not a human! _When the X-Com warrior spoke again, it was to the newcomer."Jian is already upset. Try to keep the ripples to a minimum!" That was a command.

"As you wish, Commander." The Tenno in the Gersemi Valkyr warframe replied calmly and then the _silver bladed lightsaber in her hand_ ignited. Cathi Gata was done talking.


	29. Chapter 29

**Breaking barriers**

"What have you done?"

The hushed -scared! -words from the Ethereal were the only sounds in the room besides the hum of the plasma blade as the human shaped form in bio-metal held it easily. No one dared move or even look away. The warframe did not move, but also did not look away from the frozen Ethereal. A blank faceplate could not show disgust, but the ready posture said it all. Fight or flee, she would take action that Asaru likely would not enjoy.

"I followed the rules." Jane said quietly. "You were told them. You chose not to follow them. Bad idea." She gave Alley's hand a squeeze. "It is okay, Alley. It is okay."

"I… I didn't want you involved." Alley couldn't breath very well. She gasped out words. "You have enough problems."

"We are a team now, Alley." Jane reassured her. "Whatever reasons Elizabeth had for putting us together don't matter. We are together. Your problems are mine and mine are yours." She shook her head. "Yours are a bit larger than mine." Alley chuckled and then writhed as agony flared through her lungs.

"Don't. Don't make me laugh right now, Jane. It hurts." Alley said weakly. The female med tech jerked as if to move to the bed and Alley shook her head slightly, still gasping. "Let… Let the newcomer do her duty first. I am not dying." The med tech inclined her head to the hurt Viper but her face was set.

"I was trying to help her!" Asaru all but begged. "We _cannot_ lose her! Not _now!_ The chip helped! It _will_ help!"

"And all it cost was her _trust_." The male med tech said softly. "Yes, chips like that can help to manage pain, but doing that was a breach of her trust. You are no surgeon. Even with telekinesis, you cannot have put it in without harming her. The Elders couldn't do that. You had _us_ put it in, didn't you?" Rage sang in his tone that was barely dimmed by Jane's. Both of the soldiers by the door were aiming at the Ethereal now for all the good their railgun rounds would do.

"It saved her life!" Asaru move just a little and the silver blade rose almost of its own accord. Not being a complete idiot, he stilled in place. "I didn't violate the barrier."

"_This_ time." Lizbeth said as she bent down to check Arisha. "Aunt Arisha is waking. We better finish this. Too many witnesses."

"_All_ of whom know how to keep their mouths shut." Jane replied mildly enough that everyone stiffened. "What happened in here, stays in here, clear?" That was to the Advent who slowly nodded.

"And that one?" Came from the 40K enthusiast Advent soldier with a small nod to the hovering blue Ethereal. She was just as happy as everyone else. Not at all.

"Oh, he is leaving. Preferably _before_ Jian gets here." The face Jane turned to the Ethereal held boundless promise of carnage. "She promised to let us handle this, but she is madder than hell. She is bound by the rules that he exploited so she can only interfere if things get totally out of hand. Part of me almost hopes he is that stupid." A Viper's poison laden bite might have been less puncturing than her calm, clear words.

"What?" Asaru demanded.

"Feel free to run or attack." Jane all but spit the words out. "When you were only harming _our_ reality, it was bad, but we could handle it. You meddled in things, _with_ people that do not appreciate being meddled with. _You_ pushed the Warlock into horrors unimaginable. You gave him the idea of violating the rules. You _will_ go with this being or she _will_ grab you and _carry_ you out of here. I think she would prefer that, honestly. What you did angered a lot of people. Many of whom, you get to explain it to now." The warframe nodded once. Her guard did not shift.

"You can't do that." Asaru said weakly as the warframe eyed him. "You can't-"

Whatever else he as going to say was cut off by a shrill scream that cut off just as abruptly as the silver blade deactivated. His energy form was pulled into the silver energy as it collapsed back into the hilt the being carried! The metal being turned her head, scrutinizing the room. Then she hung the hilt at her side, turned to the bed and bowed deeply. Not to Jane! To Alley! When she rose, she tilted her head in question to Jane who frowned.

"We can handle this." Jane Kelly said to the Tenno. "We will need to talk to various people, see what consensus we can reach, but thank you. The rest is our mess, we will clean it up." She eyed Lizbeth who was on her knees by Arisha who moaned. "All of us."

At that, the warframe gave Jane a bow, if slightly less deep than the one she had given to Alley. Then, she was gone. No pyrotechnics this time.

Utter silence was broken by Arisha's soft exclamation as she came to her senses on the floor. Lizbeth was right there to help. "Lizbeth? Ah… what happened?"

"As you feared, Aunt Arisha, he left a bit of himself in you." Lizbeth helped the stunned Viper upright. "He… He hurt mom." Her brave front collapsed and she was all but crying. "I couldn't stop him."

"Then… what?" Arisha asked, staring around wildly. "Where it he?"

"Gone for now. Lizbeth's backup took him. Do not ask where." Jane turned back to the bed as Alley's pain increased. The Viper must have made a noise from how worried Jane looked. "Alley?"

"Hurts. A control chip… might help…" Alley gasped weakly as her pain increased again. Both med tech started forward, only to freeze as Jane glared at them. "Jane, calm down. They are... just as mad... as we are if not... more." Her breath was coming in wheezes as her tortured lungs fought her desire for speech. "_We..._ are _used_ to... being betrayed."

"Doesn't make it any easier." Jane allowed but then moved aside and nodded to both of the medics who nodded to her. She stepped a bit away, but still held Alley's hand. "Come ahead."

"Please stop talking, Matron." The female med tech said quickly as she moved to the other side of the bed and started working controls. "Now that I know there is a chip in, I _can_ ease your pain, but erasing it will cause more harm than good." Alley opened her mouth, but he med tech's face turned stern. "No using the lungs until they have healed!"

_Right. __Pain is nature's way of saying 'Don't do that!'._ Everyone relaxed as Alley used her mind instead of her voice. _Yes, I know what happens when people don't feel pain. They do dumb stuff._ Alley quipped weakly and then sighed in relief as her pain faded. Not gone, but far more manageable. _Thank you._

"You are welcome." The Advent medic bent down to examine Arisha but stilled as Lizbeth glared at her. The blue skin made her small face quite intimidating. "Um…"

_Let the professional work, Lizbeth._ Alley's calm mental words were a command and Lizbeth made a face, but retreated a step to let the med tech scan Arisha who slowly shook her head.

"He used me, didn't he?" Arisha said weakly as the med tech smiled at her and rose to step back. "I didn't feel a thing."

"Neither did I when he used me during the war." Jane said from where she stood, eyes on the male med tech whose face was set as he works scanners over Alley's neck and head. "Tech?"

"This is my work." The med tech said weakly. "The records are here. I did this, but… I don't remember doing it!"

"Yes." Lizbeth sighed as Arisha slowly rose. The Viper seemed a bit shaky, but she was recovering. "That was his way. Quiet, subtle and utterly amoral. I never felt his manipulations and neither did the Warlock who remade me to be like this." The female med tech's hand shot to her mouth as she fought an exclamation of horror. "I was to be his daughter or Asaru's. I am not." She rose to her full, unimpressive height and nodded to Alley. "I am _the_ _Matron's_ daughter." Then her smile turned genuine as she turned to Jane. "And yes, that makes you my Aunt too, Jane Kelly."

"Don't push it." Jane warned but were the edges of her mouth turning up? If so, no one dared comment.

"I can't take this out." The male med teach continued in a scared voice. "I will kill the Matron if I try. I might be able to disable it, but there is danger if I try that. I could paralyze her or worse. I cannot remove it."

"I know someone who can but not here." Jane started, but Alley shook her head. "Alley…" Jane groaned.

_Here, Jane._ Alley said mentally, her meager energy reserves all but gone. _He can do it here._ _It _**has**_ to be done here. __They have to be shown as what they really are. Not monsters. People._

"He won't come onto an Advent base. His people wont let him!" Jane retorted as all of the Advent stared at one another.

_This isn't an Advent base anymore. The war is over._ Alley replied. All of the Advent personnel smiled at that, but their next words had them slumping. _I cannot lead you._ _Jane will __likely __not be able to lead you, but we know some people who _**can**_._ She said to the Advent personnel who looked at one another. _I…_

"Alley, enough. You need to rest now." Arisha was at her bedside in an instant as Alley wilted. "If that is your wish, we will handle it. The clan will."

_Please._ Alley took the image of Lizbeth standing beside Jane Kelly and both of them smiling at her over Arisha's crest into a gentle slumber.

* * *

Four hours later

Doctor Cooper stepped away from the operating table with a nod to his assistant. In his hands, he held a long white device with prongs that held a bloody object in between them. He stared at it as his assistant started closing the wound he had carefully cut in Alley's crest scales.

"The chip would have helped her with the pain she will have for some time, but it would have utterly alienated her as well." Doctor Cooper said softly. "Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Iri."

He hadn't known what to think of the woman when she had met him here in the surgical ward. She hadn't said a word, had just started assisting him in cleaning up for the surgery. Clad in scrubs as she was, he had thought her a nurse at first, but she wasn't. Not nearly. She wasn't Advent, that was for sure, but Advent was falling all over itself not to give him offense, so the few times they had spoken with her nearby everyone had had ignored her. Just talking to her showed her competence and empathy. He had no complaints about her skill after this tricky surgery. He had been worried about her eyesight after seeing her in dark glasses, but his fears had been unfounded.

"It was the least I could do." Even here, the woman wore dark tinted glasses, but whatever disability they countered, she was incredibly competent. She certainly wasn't blind. "The Matron has done many good things. Have you given her proposal any more thought?"

"I am not going to ask how you know about that." Cooper said with a sigh. "I see few alternatives. The Lady says I can separate from her, but I haven't."

"Do not think that anyone is stupid enough to push you into a role you are ill suited for. Far too many would take offense for anyone to be that silly." The other doctor shrugged a little, but it did not touch her hands and the delicate work she was doing regenerating Alley's scales. "Alley's idea of a council of sorts is a good one. Many minds focused on the same task can usually solve it easier than one. That said? Rule by committee rarely works as well as many might wish." She stretched a little as she retreated. "All done."

"I wish I had known you when I ran my first clinic." Doctor Cooper said with a snort as he examined Alley's crest and saw no sign of the surgery. "But that would have broken rules, wouldn't it?"

"I can't say." Doctor Iri said with a matching snort as Doctor Cooper nodded. She certainly wasn't Advent or X-Com so what did that leave? "You needed competent medical help you could trust."

"Would it break any rules for me to ask your real name?" Cooper asked as he leaned against the wall, drained by the work to save on he loved.

"We are unlikely to meet again, but odder things have happened." The woman said slowly. Then she nodded to him. "My name is Iriana. Jian asked for help and I was available."

"Thank you, Doctor Iriana." Cooper said with feeling. "I wish I could have taken her home to my hospital, but all of my other staff scattered when the Warlock's attack started. I probably could not have done as well on my own."

"You would have managed, if not as swiftly." Iriana reassured him as they stepped out of the surgical theater. "I have to go. My ride is getting restless and he is not a patient soul."

"And the fewer ripples the better." Doctor Cooper said with a smile that was wasted under his surgical mask. For her part? Iriana chuckled.

"True. Be well, Doctor." With that, she strode off down another hallway. He carefully did not look after her. He didn't want to know.

"That was weird." Doctor Cooper mused as he strode into the waiting area and tried hard not to shiver at the barely restrained violence that lurked in the small room. Jane stood by one wall along with four of her fellow X-Com warriors. Three Mutons stood by another, all armed and ready. Arisha and Lizbeth sat in chairs against the other wall of the room, with what looked for all the world like sheets of music in hand. Everyone looked at the door as Cooper strode in. He nodded to Jane. "I got it out. There is no damage. She is going to be okay."

At his calm words, everyone relaxed.

"She would probably prefer to wake at home." Jane said softly and Cooper nodded. Both of them paused as Lizbeth spoke up.

"The kids will need her, Aunt Jane." Lizbeth said quietly. Her tone held respect and a hint of shame. "She will focus on that and anyone who gets in her way will regret it."

"No ripples." Jane growled as everyone but Arisha and Cooper looked blank. Both the human doctor and the Viper operative nodded agreement with Jane.

"No, Ma'am." Lizbeth replied calmly. "Just facts. The Matron is what she is. I love her dearly but she is what she is." Jane opened her mouth, but Arisha spoke up and Jane shut hers with a click.

"Alley was worried about some of our residents." Arisha's quiet words had everyone staring at her. "Our home is incredibly secure, but not really cheerful. It is a good place for healing, but it is not a good place to raise children. None of us wish to bring a horde of children where they can never see the real sun or run and play without fear."

"They do not know how to _be_ kids, Arisha." Jane said sadly. "I did what I could. Everyone did, but they are too badly hurt."

"Hurts can be healed, Jane Kelly." Arisha reassured the warrior. "It will take time, care and probably more than few mistakes, but we can help them. In time." She looked at the Mutons who eyed her. "Our clan and nest stand as one on this. Alley spoke for Oshina. The children will be safe." All three Mutons nodded as one.

"Safe." All three of them spoke as one. Three different voices, one female. All calm and assured. All about as movable as a mountain. Jane looked at them, then at the Doctor who raised his hands in a 'why me?' gesture that had her snickering. Then she froze. Arisha and the Mutons did as well as Jane lifted a hand to the side of her head.

"Say again, Central?" Jane was talking to someone else as Lizbeth jerked upright in her chair. Jane all but staggered as the Mutons all looked at Arisha who shook her head slowly.

"Jane, you have to stay here." Arisha said when Jane let her hand fall. Her people started for the door, only to freeze as Jane growled.

"We are needed!" Jane snapped.

"Alley will need you when she wakes." Arisha retorted. "If you got the same emergency call _we_ did, we are on it."

"What can your nest do against a _Cryssalid Queen?_" Jane's snap held more worry than anger but Arisha was unmoved.

"A Queen?" Doctor Cooper felt fear rise. Of all the servants of the Elders, the Cryssalids were the ones that _really_ scared people. Anyone sane was scared of them. They procreated by poisoning living beings and laying eggs in the dying forms! New ones hatched in gory messes! With the Elders gone, they had reverted to a bestial state. Dangerous as hell for any. Even the Mutons were wary of them, and if the monsters had a _Queen_… The largest and most dangerous of an incredibly dangerous race. If they started breeding en masse... Oh dear.

"We will handle it." Arisha looked at Lizbeth who looked unsure. "Go, Lizbeth."

"Yes, Ma'am." Lizbeth was out of her chair and out of the room in an instant. Everyone stared at Arisha as she sighed deeply.

"Advent will send a response, but they won't even _get_ the emergency call for a few more minutes. Far too late for the sender. We are on it." Arisha nodded to the Mutons who relaxed.

"What can even your nest do against a Queen?" Jane asked, worry for Arisha's fellows rising.

"Two words: _Air support._"


	30. Chapter 30

**Flight**

**Bampf!**

Another shot, another Cryssalid down. Of all the things the Muton had expected when he had been sent to this hinterland by the people who he had been working for, this was not what he had expected. He had always known he would die in battle, but _this_ was not the way he had ever hoped to die. Shot, stabbed, blown up? Sure. Swarmed and eaten? Or turned into a cocoon to make more grossness? Not so much. As he waited for the next wave, he automatically checked his weapon. The heavy plasma rifle hummed as always, but he was wary of how its power cell was flashing. He had an extra, but it would take time to reload and in the heat of this kind of battle where the enemy moved as fast as these did, moments might be too long. Add to that? That was his last power cell. He had a grenade, but that was not a precision weapon. When that was gone, he had his bayonet and his fists.

He was good, he knew exactly how good. This foe was simply too many for him to take. They would pull him down and then, they would likely use his dying body to make more of their foul monstrosities. Unless he saved the grenade for himself. Maybe.

"You could leave." A soft, scared voice sounded from behind him and he ignored it. His focus was on the doorway that was the sole access into this cellar. The cellar was _only_ thing that had saved any of this town when the Cryssalid horde had swept down on it. His orders had been 'protect the village'. He would protect the village. He didn't know or care what this area had been before the Elders. He had come with them to this world, promised honorable battle and instead? He had been forced to fight guerrillas and ghosts. Some humans had been worthy adversaries. Even in utter defeat, they had refused to surrender completely and deep down, he could not help a grim bit of admiration for the sheer stubbornness that the humans had shown in defying the Elders' overpowering force. It had been annoying on occasion and frightening a few times too, but always they had come back. He hadn't gone with Patriarch Oshina or any of the other leaders when they had split off. There really hadn't seemed a point. Without the Elders directing things, Advent was nothing like it had been. The few times he had dealt with people trying to take over for the Elders, it hadn't ended well and occasionally, he regretted not going with Oshina. This was not one of those times. The voice spoke up again. "Don't your kind talk?"

The voice held fear of him now but he ignored it again as a clattering heralded more Cryssalids approaching. They would overwhelm him eventually, but he would make it cost them.

"Let him focus." Another voice. An extremely _disliked_ voice. Mutons as a rule had little use for traitors and Kriso had betrayed the Elders, betrayed his own priesthood and then had all but caused the death of a hero. Few understood the truth of what had happened with Hiloria Mox and again, the Muton didn't really care. Hiloria Mox perished doing something incredibly heroic and this being had screwed her before that. What the Muton did care about was that Priestess Milodi had been hurt as a result of this traitor and everyone who heard it loved Priestess Milodi's music. The only thing that had stayed the warrior's hand when he had found the former priest holed up in here was that Kriso had been protecting the defenseless villagers. Add to that? A few minutes after they had joined forces here, a Cryssalid had managed to slice deep into his chest armor and it was clear to the alien warrior that the priest was going to die. The outcast might be immune to the Cryssalid toxins due to his psi powers, but he was not immune to a claw deep into the lungs. The Muton was no medic and even if he had been? He likely wouldn't have bothered saving a traitor. "The message I sent got a response. It got through this time. They are coming."

"How long?" The voice begged as others started to talk in hushed tones. At least they knew the value of quiet. Kriso was likely doing something too, but as long as it kept all of the civilians out of the way, the warrior didn't mind. Admittedly, turning his back on the traitor had been one of the hardest things he had ever done but Kriso had managed to kill three Cryssalids on his own before being felled.

"I don't know, Ling." Kriso wheezed in a voice that bubbled. "I warned them about the Queen. They will have to put together a sizable force to beat that." The Muton had to agree. When the warrior had seen the Queen looming large behind the wave of chittering slashers, he had know this was going to be a last stand. Only the cellar had saved any of them and only Kriso's psionics plus the Muton's raw power had held the door, but now Kriso was dying and the Muton was almost out of ammunition. When Kriso spoke again, it was calmer. "Get the children as far back as you can, Ling. Don't let them watch!"

The Muton did not react as a white armored form staggered to stand on the other side of the doorway, his empty pistol clenched in a hand to club with. He had fallen when his scavenged human pistol had run dry but before that? He had fought with both skill and power. The ragged slash through the former priest's armor was oozing blood but he stood tall and proud as he eyed the door. The Muton glanced at him and then turned his attention back to the door.

"Whoa!" Kriso backpedaled a step as humongous claws grabbed the end of the hallway and then entire building shook as the monstrous Cryssalid tried to pull the top off the building. The Muton didn't move, but he wanted to! Both of them had seen the queen stride right through less sturdily built structures, so both had found shelter in this one. It had clearly been a reinforced bunker during the Elders' invasion and served its purpose well even now. The hybrid smiled as the claws, both of which were larger than the Muton, strained but could not break the solid human engineering. "Another wave?" He asked as the claws withdrew to a sound of what was clearly Cryssalid disgust. The Muton nodded and Kriso did as well. When the hybrid spoke again, it was in Muton! [Die well.]

For the first time since the hybrid had introduced himself, the Muton looked at the dying hybrid. Really looked at him. Kriso looked like shit. His once immaculate armor was torn and rent, some of it was mended with human duct tape and other parts with what looked like animal skin. His face, though, was serene. He nodded as the Muton looked at him.

"This is not how I wanted to die, but it is better than I deserve. Treason never prospers." Both the hulking warrior and the priest paused as a small blue skinned form simply appeared In between them! The little girl with blue skin's face was sad.

"If it prospers then no one dare call it treason, Brother Kriso." The girl said quietly. She wasn't armed, but the blue skin? Was she a Chosen? Why would the Elders make a_ child_ a Chosen? Add to that, she looked human, not like any of the Chosen that the warrior had ever seen. Not that he had seen any but pictures of _them_, for which he was devoutly grateful. "I have abilities other do not, so I had to come. I came to see how many survived. You fought well."

She was calm. Utterly calm even as a new skittering heralded what would be likely the final charge into this haven. The Muton spoke for the first time.

"Can you get the children out?" The Muton asked the blue skinned girl who shook her head. "Then why are you here?" He demanded.

"I am marking targets." The girl was not looking at him, she was eyeing the doorway! Then she started talking to someone who wasn't present. "...thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight in this cluster. Manta One, you are on that one. And…" She stilled and then smiled grimly. "Queen identified. Marked as priority. Hammerhead, you are clear for a run on the Queen. Danger close."

Wait a minute! The Muton _knew_ those words. Those were used when heavy ordnance was about to land! He stared at the girl for a moment and she smiled. It was not a nice smile.

"You will have to deal with XCom after this. They are sending a full team and they likely won't be happy to see this mess. But you did well here." The girl repeated as Kriso stared at her.

"This battle is far from over." The dying priest said in a voice that was clearly intended as firm. It came out a wheeze.

"It is over." The girl said with a grin that turned downright evil as an insanely loud noise sounded. Was that a 'Brrrt'? Rattling impacts shook dust off the walls, but nothing penetrated. A scream of Cryssalid pain mixed with rage shook the bunker and screams of fear came from the civilians behind them, but Lizbeth did not move. Then she blanched. "Crap! Manta two dropped short! That is going to land close to us! Scratch that! _On us!_ _Get d__own!_"

She put actions to words, hitting the floor and curling up to protect her vitals. The Muton did not argue. He threw himself to the floor, curling up as a thunderous 'boom' sounded just outside the door and a wave of flame spewed into the hall. The mass of flame moved as if alive, flowing, seeking things to burn as it flashed towards the pair on the floor until it hit a wall composed of purple energy. Both human and the Muton stared up at Kriso who eyes were empty, but his posture was still firm as one hand was held in a 'stop' gesture. Both stared at the fire which receded. The disgraced priest's hand fell. Then Kriso fell, his eyes closing. The blue skinned girl was at his side in an instant, but the Muton knew death when he saw it. Another 'Brrt' and more explosions heralded more Cryssalid screaming, but further away.

"Traitor or no, that was brave." Was she about to cry as she slowly stroked the dead hybrid's forehead, her face sad. "It is easy to be brave when one has no choice, but he could have run. He could have left these people to their fates. He could have let me and the warrior here burn." Was she talking to the Muton or someone else? "He didn't. He fell protecting them and us." She gave herself a shake and focused on the Muton. "Are you hurt?"

For his part, the Muton stared at the blue skinned girl. She clearly wasn't human, and her demeanor was odd to say the least. She wasn't afraid of him. Not at all! That spoke of madness or power beyond belief and despite her apparent youth, he was inclining towards the latter. He wasn't a brainy sort by inclination, but he wasn't an idiot either. Attacking this being was likely not a good idea. Insulting her likewise.

"I took a few hits. I will heal." The Muton allowed as he turned to where the civvies were huddled. None of them moved and he felt fear rise, but then they shivered, almost as one. Alive. "I saved what I could."

[It is amazing you saved any at all against such a horde. You did well, warrior.] The girl spoke Muton as if the alien language were second nature and the warrior fought hard not to gawk at her. [My name is Lizbeth. I am Alley's.] Her intonation was odd. Did she mean she was Alley's- Wait. _Alley? _He stilled. He knew that name.

[The Alley of Oshina's clan?" The warrior inquired carefully. [The Matron?] Every Muton knew that name. Dimly, he heard one more blast and then silence broken by many anti-gravity engines approaching fast.

[I am hers.] The girl said in nonnegotiable Muton and then switched back to a human language as humans started to speak in hushed, scared voices. "That is it. The battle is over, people. Ships will be landing shortly. They will take you somewhere safer."

For the first time, the Muton looked, really looked at the group of humans and fought not to react as he realized there were only ten of them, all but one immature! The eldest probably hadn't been born when the Elders had taken this world. The pale skinned human's face was strained as she held two small, crying forms close.

"This is our home." The girl said weakly. "Where will we go? What will we do?"

"I do not know what the future holds for you, human, but this I do know." Lizbeth had her voice pitched to reassured and the terrified humans relaxed a little. "You have choices now. You have defenders. Not all will look like me, but there will be those who can and will help you if you let them." She smiled at them and then, like a wisp of dream, she was gone!

"Um… what was that?" The not quiet adult human said weakly as the Muton shook his head.

"I have no idea." He said quietly as he started for the door, his weapon at the ready. The teenager with the two little kids clinging to her followed a bit hesitantly and the others slowly did the same, still afraid, but more afraid of being alone.

What greeted the Muton as he stooped just inside the entrance was not surprising. He had fought for the Elders across this planet and his people told stories about wars elsewhere. The humans behind him only had stories. He had known what he would see. They all gasped in the mix of horror and awe that was the hallmark of heavy weapons. The entire village was gone. All that was left were the smoldering remains of Cryssalids and a few blasted and burnt structures where mere hours before, a half dozen houses had stood. Even the entrance to the bunker showed signs of the blasts, but it was structurally intact. It was the only human structure left in the area. Pieces of Cryssalid, most blasted, burnt or both, lay everywhere mixed with a nasty mix of liquids that even the Muton didn't want to contemplate ingesting. The oddest things were the lines of smaller impact craters that went to and fro across the battlefield. They looked like bullet holes, but far larger than anything thrown by even the mightiest weapon that the heftiest Muton could lift. Definitely not Elder manufacture, whatever those weapons had been. Human?

"Are… are they gone?" The girl, Ling, sounded shocked and the Muton couldn't really blame her.

"Don't move." The Muton commanded. "Stay here, I will check."

"What do I do if they come?" The girl begged as the children all swept out around her, all awed and horrified by this sudden change from the norm.

"Scream." The Muton said as he stalked forward, weapon at the ready. It wasn't needed. The largest piece of Cryssalid he saw was what had to have been a leg from the Queen that had been blown all the way across the village to impale a hapless tree. Nothing he saw was intact. He did not relax even as a shadow hovered overhead and form in recognizable armor slid down ropes to land nearby. Not Advent! XCom! He slid into cover and all of the XCom troops aimed at him.

"_NO!_" Ling screamed as she threw herself between the Muton in his cover and the soldiers aiming at him. She held up empty hands in a warding gesture. "_He is not an enemy!_"

"Girl! Move." Came an unemotional voice from a human in bulky armor. This was not going to end well for the Muton. There were four of them and one of him. He was hurt and almost out of ammo. It didn't matter. They would kill him, but he would not fail his mission otherwise.

"No." The girl snapped and to the Muton's shock, threw herself into his cover and hugged him tight! "Shoot him and you shoot me! Where were you?" She demanded as several smaller forms ran up to surround her and him. All of the kids were glaring at the soldiers who stared at them, confused. "_Where were you?_" She screamed at the XCom troops.

"Girl!" What had to be the team leader warned as the girl held onto the Muton who felt something inside him give way. He had fought humans, seen more humans, but he had never admired humans. Not until now. This girl showed a lack of sense, true, but she was young. Given a chance? She would grow and learn. He would be damned if he would let anyone stop her. He felt an overpowering calm settle on him as he smiled under his helmet.

"Ling, let go." The Muton slowly rose out of his cover, letting his weapon hang loose. "They don't want to hurt you. I bet they are just as scared as you are. They didn't do this." He looked at the team leader who stared at him as the Muton slowly laid his rifle at his feet. Then his equipment pouch. "Did you?"

"You didn't do this." The team leader said as Ling hugged the Muton tighter, shaking her head. "Who did?"

"I don't know." The Muton admitted as he reached up with a slow hand to undo his helmet. He let it fall beside his rifle. "What I saw doesn't make a lot of sense, but whatever did this was clearly airborne and neither of us are."

He had only thought himself still. He felt petrified as a huge white thing appeared hovering over a hill nearby. The multi barreled gun that poked out of one wing was still smoking! Then a hologram appeared in the middle of the tableau. The Viper was not happy, more resigned.

"We kind of hoped to keep this quiet, but you just broadcast that video Lieutenant! The secret is out." The Viper's tone was polite. It shouldn't have been possible to be scathing as well, but she managed. She heaved a sigh as she looked at the Muton. "You okay?"

"Who are you?" The leader of the XCom team demanded and then went utterly still as _another_ hologram appeared beside the Viper. Jane Kelly was pissed! Every Muton knew who she was! Oshina did not normally tell _anyone_ 'Leave that human woman alone!' For _him_ to say that? Wisdom said to do it.

"You _had_ to broadcast the video of the battleground in clear, didn't you?" Jane demanded as all four XCom troops braced almost to attention. "Secret only stays secret when no one knows about it. Our air support is supposed to be secret! Can we spin this, Ana?"

"No, Ma'am." The Viper replied to matching shock from the Muton and XCom. "His raw video just went viral. It will hit the conspiracy sites in a few minutes and then, there is no stopping it. The Elders couldn't stop such, there is no chance _we_ can."

"Shit." Jane Kelly said with feeling. The look she turned on the troops had the _Muton_ wincing. "Okay, then. Secure the area, _Squaddie_ Reynolds." From how the whole team reacted to those words, she had just demoted the leader quite a ways.

"This may work to our advantage if we go public now, Ma'am." The Viper Ana said diffidently. Where did the Muton know that name from? "Still a mess, but possibly less so."

"Whatever. Alley will be pissed, but hey, best we can do, right?" She asked the Viper who nodded.

"True." The Viper sighed. "We will try to get Maya and Mina to calm down enough to let the docs look at them. We may need Alley though. We _will_ need her for Sam. He isn't coming down for a while."

Everyone looked up as a roar sounded and then another! _Three_ white ships were gyrating across the sky. Even to the Muton's inexpert eye, they were not fighting.

"What are they doing?" The Muton asked as he tried to carefully dislodge Ling who clung to him like a limpet. He didn't want to hurt her after all of this. Jane Kelly smiled at him and when she spoke her words held both sorrow and joy.

"Rejoicing in the only freedom they will likely ever have. Flight."


	31. Chapter 31

For continuity's sake, this takes place after the end of my fanfiction 'Prisons'

* * *

**Epilogue**

Alley was both sorry to see them go and relieved. Elizabeth may or may not ever be a friend, but Falcon and her Mother were good souls. Saving Falcon was a good thing in a world filled with bad things. Alley understood Elizabeth far too well now. The woman was simply incapable of giving up. She had nearly killed herself fixing things, more than once according to the odd blue armored woman called 'Lotus' or 'Natah'. Some things that Elizabeth herself had broken and others that her family had. She was devious and set in her ways. That said? She wasn't a bad person, Elizabeth. She had a core of ethics and decency that Alley could not help but admire. She was never going to trust the woman, but she did admire Elizabeth a bit. Just the little bits and pieces she had heard as well as what she had sensed of Elizabeth frightful self inflicted injuries had horrified the kindly Viper.

She would not dwell on that. Better for all if she forgot this odd visit and everything to do with it. She smiled as the door to her office opened and Jane stood there. The human looked tired and aggravated, but she smiled when Alley met her eyes. Alley spoke before Jane did.

"There were ripples, Jane." Alley said softly and Jane's eyes widened. She closed her mouth as she rethought whatever she was going to say. "The Lady isn't happy, but everyone is alive. That is a win in my book."

"Mine too." Jane said as she entered the office, found the sole piece of human furniture by the wall and sat down with at thump. "Bradford insists I am in command, but both of us will continue pretending the Commander is still here until we can figure out what else to do."

"The Commander _is_ here, Jane." Alley nodded to her partner, her face set. Jane shook her head. "You are it."

"I know that and you know that." Jane buried her face in her hands, a rare show of fatigue. "Hell, _Bradford_ knows that. But the resistance? They don't and they won't accept me. I made a lot of enemies when I was off globe trotting."

"I bet Asaru made just as many if not more." Alley reassured her partner as she finished up what she was doing and spun to eye Jane. "He had longer, after all."

"Yeah." Jane would not meet Alley's eyes.

"Jane?" Alley inquired and then stilled as she felt shame across her connection. "Oh. They… They said 'No', didn't they?"

One of Alley's worries was that the higher command XCom personnel under Asaru might not accept her nest as allies. After all, the humans were not really human anymore after all of the genetic modifications that had been done to them and the Vipers? They might have been grown on Earth, but they were not human. Many humans had problems with snakes before the Vipers had come on the scene. Now? Worse. Her nest had been the absolute worst kind of enemies once upon a time. The kind you never saw coming.

"Tygan and Lily want to use you and Arisha, but basically put you in cages when not using you." Jane shook her head savagely. "Over my dead body, Bradford's and Syndrome's. The whole Resistance hierarchy are talking about detention camps for aliens, Alley."

"'Detention'?" Alley asked carefully.

"Nothing more." Jane said with a growl. "There will always be hotheads, but we will need the personnel. I told you what happened in that horrid place when I lost Jenni. I know that we didn't beat the Elders. We stopped their plan and maybe drove them away, but they may come back. Or worse…" She trailed off and Alley nodded.

"Their enemies. The ones who drove them here, may come instead." Alley sighed deeply. "Ah well, my nest work better in the shadows anyway." Her smile was melancholy but her mental touch was gentle as she sifted her partner's feelings. She did not like what she found. "You are going to bed, Jane. Right now."

"Alley…" Jane protested as Alley rose and slithered to her side.

"You are out on your feet, woman." Alley did not try to pull Jane up. Instead, she offered her hand. "The kids are asleep and you will be shortly. Every strength has limits and you are not alone now." Jane rose to her feet, but unsteadily. Alley took her hand and guided her towards one wall that slid open to show a dark hallway.

"Alley?" Jane asked, not quite concerned, but certain she _should_ be. "What is this?"

"What kind of secret agents would we be without secret passages?" Alley asked as she led Jane into the hall. "I refuse to leave the kids defenseless in any way. Having them on the surface is bad enough even with the clan's aid. I will not jeopardize their security."She smiled at Jane's expression. "Besides, this is the only one. So far."

"And it runs…" Jane paused as she felt amusement across the link. "Let me guess. Your office to my assigned quarters?"

"We will never have an erotic relationship, Jane." Alley reassured her. "I am not human, you are not alien. That said? I will not leave you to suffer if I can alleviate it. You will need my help and I will need yours." She paused and then smiled. "Director."

"What?" Jane asked as she stumbled after Alley. She was very tired.

"You need a different designation." Alley replied as she tapped a wall and Jane was not surprised when Alley led her into a set of quarters that had been set up for her. A shotgun and sword hung on one wall along with a set of XCom armor. Neither of the weapons looked human made and Jane eyed them, but Alley pulled her towards the bed. "Sleep now, play later."

"Yes, Mistress." Jane quipped and then paused as the bed inclined a little to let her ease into it. "Um... Alley?"

"Smart furniture is something my nest have been working on for a bit. The pregnant women in the clinic think our beds are wonderful." Alley slid up onto the bed. "Advent was very good at making people comfortable while they brainwashed them. You will not be brainwashed. Anyone who tries, I am going to bite." Not a threat, a promise. "Both of us are survivors. Walking wounded, hurting in so many ways, but now? We are not alone. If you wish, I will let you sleep alone, but I _will_ make sure you sleep." Again, a promise.

"I remember." Jane was weaving and Alley eased her down to the bed. "I am scared, Alley. I dreamed of Jenni when I napped earlier."

"Was it a bad dream?" Alley inquired gently as she pulled Jane's boots off.

"No." Jane sighed as Alley moved to take Jane's boots off the bed. "Please don't leave me?" Almost anyone who knew her would have been astonished by the sudden change in her, but Alley knew her on a level that few ever had and just coiled up next to her, letting her own body's heat and rhythm soothe the exhausted woman. In moments, she was fast asleep and Alley still lay there.

"Mom?" Lizbeth's quiet, worried voice heralded the girl appearing nearby. "Do you need anything?"

"Just make sure Sam sleeps. He got such a high flying today it will be hard to keep him on the ground." Alley said sadly. Lizbeth made a face and nodded. "Also, keep an eye out for the Elders or Asaru. I refuse to let any of them hurt Jane again."

"I will, Mom." Lizbeth promised. "Rest well." Then she was gone.

For a moment, Alley just lay there. Then she spoke aloud. "We are as alone as I can make us."

"Director is good idea, Matron." Jian appeared near where Lizbeth had been, her face serene. "Different enough to seem separate, but close enough to be right there when decisions need to be made. They can pull it off. Hide what she really is until it doesn't matter anymore."

"You will keep an eye on her?" Alley pleaded. "I do not know what I will do, if I will survive. I know I won't want to when my nest start dying off. But I cannot leave Jane alone again. I am sorry for the mess I made."

"Everything that happened was Elizabeth's mess and I _will_ take it out of her hide." Jian waved the concern away. "I did some research. You are the only one who can go down there, Matron and it will hurt you every time." Alley nodded, not responding and Jain sighed. "The survivors are all carriers. They had no idea. None of them."

"I figured." Alley paused as Jane mumbled in her sleep. "Are you doing anything?" She did not quite demand that.

"No." Jian reassured her. "She ran from her emotions for so long, that now? She is afraid of them. Show her the truth, matron. Show her the depth that she has been missing. Give her a reason to stay with you and she will. The two of you separate were formidable. Together? There are no heights you cannot achieve. She in the light, you in the shadow. Equal and opposite."

"And tomorrow, we see about helping the kids have futures besides flying until they die." Alley lay back, laying her head next to her partner. "They deserve better."

"So do you." Jian's voice was a bit husky but Alley just shook her head. "Matron."

"You know what I am going to say, Jian. I already know too much, about too much." Alley sighed deeply. "I have to take the oaths or forget it all and I refuse to leave Jane to face this alone."

"You don't have to choose now." Suddenly, Jain looked unsure. "Matron…"

"I _did_ choose, Jian." Alley laid a hand on Jane's scalp and the woman relaxed as Alley's power soothed her. "So did Lizbeth. When I finally do shuffle off the mortal coil, you know what to do. Where to take me."

"My life is not fun, Matron. You have suffered enough." Jian pleaded.

"And one person, or even an exceptional _group_ of people, cannot ward this reality alone." Alley replied. "Lizbeth is pledged to keep the Warlock form returning, but we both know there are other threats even without Elizabeth's insanity. Or Jenni's." She smiled at Jian who stilled. "Or did you think I wouldn't figure it out?"

"It wasn't her fault." Jian said slowly. "We all know it wasn't her fault. She didn't mean to break the barrier the way she did."

"Fault doesn't come into it." Alley replied, closing her eyes. "Jenni is dead, but not gone, is she?" Jian did not answer and Alley had hers. "I see. I will keep Jane on the straight and narrow until she can do whatever she has to. Tell the Lord of the Darkstorms, the answer is yes and I will swear to your order when the time comes. Until then? Count me an ally."

When Alley looked, Jian was gone. She shrugged a little and went to sleep. She would see how hard it was to fly as a Darkstorm soon enough. For now? She had more important things to handle.

She fell into darkness dreaming of winged horses smiling and she was not afraid. For the first time since she had lost Mark, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. She had a family, a duty and she was not alone.

There would be time to stretch her own wings after she taught all of her own kids how to fly for themselves, not for anyone else. Until then, the sky was the limit.


End file.
